The Secrets of Stars
by Solo Starship
Summary: The year is 2184...Flynn and Dellin, Two spacers just trying to make an honest cred, finally land a high paying salvage job. They don't know it at the time, but what they've unearthed is the key to an ancient secret that will change the galaxy forever...
1. Chapter 1

**The Secrets of Stars**

"Tell me again how he died", Mr. Goodwin said. His voice was subdued, thick with sorrow as he stared out the window across the busy center of Elysium.

Flynn shifted his jaw from side to side as he watched the grey-haired man in front of him. Swallowing to soothe his drying throat, he drew in a slow breath. He tried to picture the story in his mind, watching as it played out, making sure the details were the same as they had been the first time.

"There was a raid," Flynn finally blurted out. One telling of the story had done little to slake his guilt and discomfort. "Some Blood Pack members had got wind of the valuable salvage that we were there to collect. There were only a handful of us in our landing party when we picked up their shuttle signature. We barely had time to secure the salvage before they landed. There were only a few vorcha, but…the krogan." Afraid that his soliloquy sounded too rehearsed, Flynn cast a sideways glance at Dellin. The turian's beak twitched, but he gave an encouraging nod.

Clearing his throat, Flynn continued. "We lost him before we could bring down the krogan. We should have been better armed. I'm…I'm sorry, Mr. Goodwin."

Goodwin nodded, only moving as much as was necessary to lace his fingers behind his back. "The salvage business is hit and miss." He sighed heavily. "Your gear is only as valuable as the scrap you bring in."

Flynn nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Those krogan," Goodwin continued. "Sometimes it seems like they _can't_ be killed."

"Rest assured, Mr. Goodwin," Dell began, taking a small step forward. "This one was."

Goodwin gave a minute nod, still keeping his back to the two visitors. "Thank you for coming, gentlemen. I…appreciate you making the trip here." He finally shifted his gaze from the window as his head began to sink low on his shoulders. "If you'll excuse me…I've got a memorial service to plan."

Flynn and Dell exchanged one more glance before subtly exhaling. "Yes, sir," Flynn said, turning toward the exit. "If you need anything," he mumbled over his shoulder, "You know how to contact me."

Goodwin gave no response, and Flynn trailed Dell's footsteps out the apartment door, feeling relieved as he heard it slide shut with a _swish!_

"Well, that went better than expected," Dell said, his flanging voice resounding crisply in the metallic hallway.

The pair turned and began plodding toward the building's exit, their boots thudding dully beneath them. Flynn's brow was aching. These creases wouldn't be gone anytime soon. "For the first time I can remember…I can't wait to leave this planet, Dell."

"I know what you mean"

The two men emerged from the apartment complex and stepped onto the crowded sidewalk. Flynn fired up his omni-tool and wasted no time sending out a pulse that would draw the nearest cab. His turian companion folded his arms across the rounded breast-plate of his armor. "Do you think he knew?" Dell asked.

Flynn stared vacantly as a cab slowly descended in front of them, its engine vibrating and humming softly as the hatch lifted open with a hiss. He took one step forward and swiveled his head, staring back at the door he had just emerged from. "For his sake, I hope not."

Dell nodded solemnly.

"Come on. Let's get back to the ship."

Ducking into the cab, Dell shut the door behind him as he slid into the back seat.

After directing the driver to the spaceport, the two companions sat in silence, watching the cars and barges around them navigate the buzzing skies of Elysium. There seemed to be more people than usual flitting around the colony. Flynn watched them as they passed by, catching only fleeting glimpses of their faces. None of them knew him. Not one of them knew he existed at all. He suddenly felt his breath catch in his throat. Reaching out beside him, he pressed his hand against the smooth paneling of the door, breathing deeply as he felt it beneath his palm.

"Dell," he muttered, his voice muted.

"I'm still here, Flynn."

It seemed to take no time at all for Flynn and Dell to reach the spaceport. The two of them remained silent, passing through customs and decontamination without saying a word to one another. As they walked along the newly painted arm of the docking cradle toward the _Resolution_, Flynn kept his eyes on the metal planking beneath his feet, unconsciously chewing his thumbnail as he went. Ahead of him, Dell was first through the airlock and stopped, patiently waiting for Flynn to enter. As the hatch slid closed behind him, Flynn felt his ears pop as they adjusted to the ship's interior pressure.

With a loud hiss, the airlock door slid open and allowed the pair to enter the old, rickety ship that they called home. As they stepped into the narrow hallway, Dell angled himself to the left toward the cockpit before casting a questioning look at his partner. Keeping his eyes averted, Flynn gave him a nod. Wordlessly, Dell slipped into the pilot's seat and buckled himself in as Flynn turned to the right and headed down the cramped corridor. As he walked, he ran his fingers along the left wall, feeling the texture of the escape pod hatches and relishing the way his fingertips glided over the metallic contours. After just a few yards, he turned to the right once more and ducked into his small cabin, immediately dropping into sitting position atop his thin mattress.

"Elysium control, _MSV Resolution_. Permission to disengage?" Dell's deep vocals wafted back through the hall. "Thank you," he responded to a voice than Flynn hadn't heard. "We will remain in high orbit for approximately twelve hours…understood."

Despite the inertia dampeners, Flynn could tell they had started moving. The hull vibrated differently. The canned air had a miniscule charge to it, something that would be unnoticeable to anyone that hadn't spent the past eight years living on board. For the millionth time, Flynn wished that his cabin had a window that he could look out of.

With a groan, he stood up and clumsily shed his armor, letting it tumble aimlessly to the floor before returning to his sitting position. For a moment, he pondered paying a visit to the travel compartment that had served as Vance's quarters. Instead, he chose to lean forward and bury his face in his calloused hands, sighing heavily.

The skin on his cheeks was cool to the touch, and his scruffy facial hair scratched noisily against his palms. Breathing deeply, he closed his eyes and slumped his shoulders. The weight that pressed in upon him was unlike any he had felt before. Even after Acaeda, it hadn't been this exhausting. He'd never faced this situation, and he wished to the heavens that he'd never face it again. One decision was all it had taken. One bad call and Vance was gone.

Flynn's head was growing heavy in his hands. He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting in thought, but he suddenly awoke with a start. Had he been asleep? Suddenly, he became aware of Dell standing in his doorway. Flynn jerked his head to the left and looked up at him, his eyebrows raised expectantly. "Yeah?"

"I'm going to keep my ear on the wire. Just in case," Dell said. His voice was monotonous, almost robotic. "You may want to hit your terminal and let Sal know we're resting here."

Trying his best to stifle a yawn, Flynn simply nodded in response. Without another word, Dell disappeared down the hall, presumably to his own cabin.

"Perfect," Flynn muttered to himself. With a quiet groan, he rubbed his face, trying to restore feeling to it. Had Dell awakened him? Or was it the sound of gunfire? Shaking the thought from his head, Flynn scratched his dark, freshly-cut hair and slid to the foot of his bed, powering up his extranet terminal. He wasn't in the mood for a chat, least of all with Sal Swift. A private message would do just fine. Holding his hands above the IR keyboard display, Flynn hammered out a short message.

_Sal, _

_Still at Elysium. Resting for 12. Cargo is secured. Will be there within the next 36. _

_-F.M._

Nothing more was needed. Sal knew why they had come to Elysium, and Flynn could care less if he had a problem with a twelve hour delay. With a shrug, he sent the message and reclined onto his bed, staring blankly up at the low ceiling. The ship was cool, and Flynn felt very cold as he lay there.

"VIC," he breathed.

VIC, the ships rudimentary Voice Imprinted Controller, buzzed back at him through small speakers in the ceiling. "Yes."

"Raise the temperature, please," Flynn muttered dejectedly. "Seventy-seven degrees Fahrenheit."

At once, a light rattle began to issue from the floor vents, signifying that the heat had been turned on. Flynn didn't move at all. As the temperature slowly became more comfortable, he felt his eyelids growing heavier. In the darkness of his room, however, his fading attention was drawn to his storage locker in the corner. Slowly tilting his head to see, he noticed a faint white light spilling out from the slats in the door. There was only one thing that would cause such a phenomenon, and Flynn vaguely wondered why it was glowing again. Before he could put much thought into it, sleep finally took him.

After what seemed like only a moment, his eyes fluttered open again. Without moving, Flynn slowly moistened his chapped lips and waited for his senses to return to him. The ship was eerily silent. No engines, no vent rattling, none of the usual noises. Gritting his teeth, Flynn slowly raised himself up on his mattress, his sore muscles protesting against the movement. As he made his way to the edge of his bed, he remembered something from before he fell asleep. The locker.

His eyes darted over to the corner of his cabin, scanning the tall locker door for a sign of the light he had seen before. There was none. Raising himself up onto his feet, he stepped over his armor and opened the storage locker. Still no light.

Had he imagined it?

Blinking the bleariness from his eyes, Flynn stretched his hand toward the top shelf, standing on his toes so he could reach to the back of it. Wrapping his fingers around the old sock, he pulled it toward him and set his heels back on the floor. The sock was warm, which wasn't unusual. It was always warm when the cone glowed. Unfurling the dusty old garment, Flynn gingerly retrieved the small crystal cone from inside it.

The cone was still as pristine and flawless as the day he had found it. No markings, no texture, just a smooth, conical-shaped crystal. Flynn scrutinized the surface of it, hoping that there would be a clue or an answer where there had never been one before. As always, nothing was revealed to him. With a heavy sigh, he slipped the crystal into the pocket of his thermals and closed the locker door. He needed coffee.

With his senses now attuned to consciousness, Flynn noticed that the ship wasn't quite as silent as he had initially thought. There was a low-pitched static coming from down the hall, but there was also something else. He strained his ears and listened harder. He could hear a faint rattling, a metallic clanking coming from below deck. The ship still seemed cold. Perhaps it was a problem with the ducts, or some other mechanical malfunction. This was not at all uncommon aboard the _Resolution. _

Flynn pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Perfect."

Stepping over his armor once more, he left the confines of his cabin and entered the hallway, taking only three steps before reaching Dell's quarters. He stopped in the open doorway and raised an eyebrow.

Still wearing his armor, Dell was slumped over his desk, his brown head spikes sticking straight up in the air. His deep breathing made it clear that he was asleep. The low-frequency static was indeed coming from this room. Dell had been scanning the news bands, listening for reports of missing or crashed ships. Flynn looked down at his turian brother and debated simply leaving him be. After a moment, though, he reached across the desk and switched off the news band.

As soon as the sound ceased, Dell snapped upright and practically leapt to his feet, blinking his eyes and wiping errant saliva from his jaw and mandibles. "What?" he snapped. "What's wrong?"

The tone of his voice caused Flynn's eyebrows to pull together. After a moment, however, he simply pointed to floor beneath him. "Listen," he said.

Dell drew in a quick breath and froze in place, listening to the same clanking sound that Flynn had heard.

"What is that?" Flynn asked. "A broken hose?"

Dell shook his head. "No, that's in the hold."

"The hold?" Flynn suddenly sounded uneasy. "You…you don't think…"

"No, I don't think so."

Dell stepped forward and Flynn shifted back a step to allow him into the hallway. The two of them had barely moved forward when VIC's automated voice crackled over the loudspeakers.

"Unauthorized data access in progress."

Dell whipped around and looked down at Flynn. Both of them had instantaneously come to the same conclusion. "One of them is still alive," Flynn said, his eyes wide.

Immediately, both of them broke into a sprint, barreling into the galley where they had laid their weapons. Flynn fumbled on the lounge table for his pistol while Dell scooped up a shotgun on the way to aft stairs. Flynn was less than two steps behind him.

As they clamored down the dimly lit stairwell, he noticed the light emanating from the right pocket of his thermals. The cone was glowing again. Despite this, his concentration needed to be elsewhere at the moment.

Ahead of him, Dell reached the door to the hold and threw himself against the right jamb, waiting for Flynn to take the left. As soon as he was in place, Flynn swallowed hard and gave a nod, feeling cold and clammy from head to toe. As Dell's gloved hand waved the door open, Flynn drew a shallow breath and rushed into the cargo hold, his pistol raised. Dell was right behind him, shotgun leveled and ready.

In the center of the room, a large pile of scorched, mangled parts and machinery lay on the cargo elevator, exactly where it had been left. Dell jogged over to it and began kicking aside pieces with his foot, aiming his shotgun carefully as he searched for movement.

As he watched, Flynn suddenly felt something hard and icy close around his right ankle. Letting out a startled yelp, he whipped his pistol around behind him and fired two shots, both of which went terribly astray. As he fired, whatever had seized his ankle let him go, and Flynn was thrown off balance. With a grunt, he crashed hard to the metal grating that covered the floor, feeling bolts of pain lance violently through him.

Someone was calling his name, but Flynn was in a full-blown panic. He dug his elbows into the grating and hauled himself backward, staring in horror at the geth torso that clawed its way toward him. Flynn kicked frantically at its flashlight-looking head as he tried to slide his body backward. Where was his pistol? It was no longer in his hand. The geth's ice-cold claws clamped around Flynn's legs, causing him to cry out in a high pitched voice that he didn't recognize. Metallic fingers were reaching for his right pocket, silhouetted against the bright white light that burned there.

"DELL!"

_Blam!_

The shotgun blast ripped into the geth's head and shoulders, showering Flynn with hot sparks as his mechanical assailant exploded from the impact. Practically hyperventilating, Flynn scurried backward on his skinned elbows and scrambling to his feet. He took a few moments to frenetically slap his legs and stomach, making sure none of the sparks would cause any further burns.

Someone was calling his name again, but Flynn's ears were filled only with the roar of blood rushing through his veins. He spun in a circle, locating his pistol and scuttling over to it. Without a second thought, he leveled the weapon at the geth that had attacked him and fired directly into its robotic corpse, squeezing off a dozen rounds before his heat sink began glowing bright red. Panting from the adrenaline that had thundered through his body, he ejected the thermal clip and sank to his knees to catch his breath. He felt colder than ever.

Suddenly, Dell was beside him, placing a three-fingered handed on his shoulder to comfort him. "Are you hurt?" Dell asked, his voice urgent.

Flynn could only shake his head.

"What is that?" Dell pointed to Flynn's pocket, which was still shining as bright as any star.

With his fingers trembling, Flynn reached into his pocket and closed his hand around the crystal, slightly surprised that it wasn't at all hot. Pulling it from his thermals, he held it out for Dell, who recoiled and shielded his eyes.

"Is that your crystal?" he asked incredulously.

Flynn nodded, squinting at it. "Yeah."

All at once, the light disappeared completely, sucked back into the small crystal before either of them could say a word.

Dell leaned down to look at the now innocuous crystal cone that rested in Flynn's palm. "Has…it ever –?"

"No."

"Have you ever seen –?"

"Not that bright, no."

Dell stood straight and slapped the shotgun onto the magnetic spine of his armor. Scratching the scales on the back of his neck, he stared down at the freshly killed geth. "Why did this geth want it so badly?"

Flynn slowly shook his head, his eyes still fixed on the crystal in his hand. "I have no idea."


	2. Chapter 2

**Secrets of Stars: Chapter 2**

**A/N-**

**Okay, I didn't mention this in my first chapter, but this is my first story. I've done a lot of writing, but this is the first one I've ever felt was up to being posted. Hopefully, you all don't hate it ;)**

Flynn sat alone at the cramped lounge table, staring intently at the crystal cone that sat on its end just in front of him. It had gone dim down in the hold, and hadn't changed one bit in the half-hour that had passed since then. Suddenly, he felt like he was twenty years old again. His minds eye flashed back to the day he had pulled it out of the burning soil on that miserable planet. He had been so excited, so intrigued by the mystery of it. Now, even after all this time, he felt no closer to solving it than he had been on that day.

"What?" he spoke to it. "What the hell are you?"

At that moment, Dell's heavy footfalls could be heard ascending the aft stairs into the galley. Flynn leaned back in his seat and snatched the crystal from the table.

"Nothing interesting?"

Dell's beak parted, his mandibles widening slightly: the turian equivalent of a small grin. "Definitely not nothing," he answered. With a flick of his right talon, a small chunk of debris landed on the table, sliding to a stop in front of Flynn.

"What the hell?" He asked, squinting down at it. "A hard drive?"

Dell slipped into the booth perpendicular to him. "That's the memory core from the geth that tried to end you."

"A memory core?" Flynn's eyes widened considerably as he picked up the chip. "I always heard they flash-fry the memory when they shut down."

Dell nodded slowly, his golden eyes surveying Flynn's face. "Lucky for you, I'm a shotgun savant," he boasted, his brow plates sliding into smug expression. "The shot blasted it out of the thing's head before it had a chance to purge."

"Look at you," Flynn said, the corners of his mouth twitching. "One geth kill and you're a different man."

Dell shrugged in response, his mandibles betraying a hint of a smile.

Flynn chuckled softly and lowered his gaze to the table. "But really, man…Good shooting down there," he mumbled. "Pulled me outta the fire."

"Well, I've been doing it our whole lives," Dell retorted, his flanging voice laced with sarcasm. "Why would I stop now?"

Flynn gave a dejected smirk but said nothing. Gingerly, he set the memory core down on the table's cold surface and rubbed his fingers together to warm them.

Sighing, Dell leaned forward and rested his armored elbows on the table. "Come on. Don't get depressed until you hear the bad news."

Creases formed instantly on Flynn's brow as he looked up at his partner. "What bad news?"

Dell nodded to the chip that rested on the table. "I went through the terminal that our friend there hacked. It accessed our logs."

"Aw, shit. What –?"

"Cargo history, travel history…it even got our ship info and heat emission signature."

Setting down his crystal, Flynn slapped his coarse palms to his forehead and dragged them slowly down his face, groaning in frustration. "Perfect," he spat. "Do you think it had time to upload? To call reinforcements?"

"I believe we have to assume it did."

Flynn let out an exasperated cackle, causing Dell to flinch slightly. "Spectacular!" he exclaimed sardonically. "What a stupendous couple of days it's been. We lose our best friend _and _we're now wanted by the geth. The geth!"

Dell had suddenly gone rigid. He sat motionless, saying nothing in return as his piercing eyes simply blinked at the table in front of him.

Flynn noticed his expression and sighed ruefully. For a long moment, the two friends sat in silence, unsure of what to say to one another. The words had tumbled from Flynn's mouth before he could think to stop them. The grief wasn't nearly old enough yet.

Desperate for a way to kill the awkward silence, Flynn's gaze fell back upon the crystal cone that he had set on the table top.

"Do you think it knew?" He asked quietly.

Dell's head slowly tilted up to meet his gaze. "What?"

"This thing," Flynn nodded to the crystal. "You think that geth knew what it was?"

It took a moment for Dell to respond. He glared at the cone, his eyes narrowed in thought. "It _was _trying quite hard to get it from you."

Flynn nodded, feeling a tingling sensation creep up his spine. "I think it did," he said dramatically. "I think it knew exactly what this thing is."

"Look, I know what you're thinking," Dell sighed, leaning back against the booth and letting his arms flop to his sides.

"The answer is on that memory core," Flynn felt his face grow slightly warmer as he spoke. "We need to see what's on it."

"No." Dell replied crossly. "We _need _to get to Omega. We _need_ to get those geth parts to Sal and get paid."

"I know that, okay? I just –" Flynn scooped up the crystal in his hand. "I've had this thing for seven years, Dell."

"I'm aware. I was there when you dug it up."

"Then you remember how odd that was," Flynn said, rapping his knuckles on the table as he spoke each word. "It was left there for me. It's important. I want to know what it is and what it's for."

Dell closed his eyes and slowly drew a breath. "We need the money," he said, keeping his flanging voice neutral.

Flynn clenched his fist around the cone and shifted his jaw from side to side. "This could be some sort of special geth tech," he was trying to appeal to Dell's stubborn sense of reason. "It could be worth a billion creds."

Running a hand along his head spikes, Dell simply stood up from the table and made for the hallway. "We took a contract from Sal. We have a job to finish."

Flynn rolled his eyes and sat back with a deep sigh. "Jesus…Fine. Omega first. Are we leaving now?"

"Yes," Dell nodded. "I highly doubt the get would make an appearance right next to a major settlement like Elysium…especially not in Citadel space, but…I don't want to take that chance."

"Sure."

Flynn sat alone at the table for several long minutes as Dell returned to the cockpit. His fingers absentmindedly turned the crystal over and over in his hand, sliding along its smooth surface.

Going to Omega.

Going home.

"Shit."

Feeling a cold chill settling over him, Flynn unwedged himself from behind the lounge table and headed back up the passageway, rubbing his hands up and down his arms as he slipped into his cabin. After stumbling over the armor that he'd forgotten to tuck away, he flopped down on his thin mattress and slipped beneath his blanket.

"VIC"

"Yes."

"What's the temperature inside the ship?"

"The current temperature is seventy-seven degrees Fahrenheit.

Flynn's eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "Raise it to eighty, please."

Omega.

A thriving metropolis, a hub of cultural exchange, a nexus of galactic wisdom and knowledge, and a nerve center for the best that every species has to offer…none of these things described Omega.

Flynn and Dell muscled their way through the crowded streets of the station, doing everything in their power to mind their own business. A scowl had plastered itself on Flynn's face, and it wasn't about to leave anytime soon. The smell of the place alone was enough send a first-time traveler scrambling for the nearest airlock. The grotesque combination of alien musk, unidentifiable foods, rotting garbage, and death immediately made Flynn regret leaving his helmet on board the ship. At least he thought to wear his armor.

Only snippets of conversation were audible to him as he and Dell worked their way around the twisted streets, and Flynn was glad that his translator couldn't pick up most of the ambient noise. He shuddered to think of what the aliens around him were actually saying. Ahead of him, a pair of krogan could easily be seen parting the masses as they stomped their way through. Flynn and Dell were forced to split and practically run to the gutter to avoid being trampled.

"Jesus," Flynn growled, speaking loudly to make himself heard over the rabble of the crowd. "How do we keep ending up here?"

Dell, who had nearly lost his footing after stepping in something wet and green, shook his head, baring his sharp teeth as he let out a turian curse. "No idea. Home is where the heart is, I suppose."

Flynn's scowl deepened. "Give me a break. Who the hell says that?"

"I thought humans did."

"God…Just keep an eye out for the nearest transit hub."

"I see it," Dell raised his left talon and pointed ahead of him.

Flynn craned his neck to see over the brownish horns of the salarian in front of him. Mercifully, Dell was right. A transit hub with a few cars was only a few yards ahead of them. The vehicles in Omega's hubs were far from luxury crafts, and they were usually just as filthy as the streets, but they were also usually reliable. Ignoring the angry grunts and alien insults that were fired at them as they passed, Flynn and Dell wormed their way to the nearest skycar and popped the canopy. Immediately, both of them withdrew several steps, gagging loudly as a particularly foul odor wafted over them.

As he scanned the inside of the car for the source of the stench, Flynn's eyes fell upon an amorphous brown puddle that lay festering in the seat nearest to them. The two of them simply stared for a moment, trying to wish away the sight in front of them.

Flynn blinked several times before speaking. "Is that –?"

"We'll take the next car," Dell said firmly.

Slamming the canopy, the two of them quickly walked past the first car and opening the second with a hint of dread in their stomachs. Fortunately, there was nothing inside…other than the usual dregs from countless past occupants.

Dell slipped inside and fired up the mass drive. With a sigh, Flynn dropped into the seat next to him, adjusting the assault rifle on his back to make himself more comfortable. It took only a few seconds for Dell to lift off and head into the open air of Omega's interior.

For being almost totally constructed in patchwork styling, the station could almost seem impressive. A massive, hollowed out asteroid that had been completely overtaken by organic life. It was an engineering marvel. Dingy skyscrapers and mottled apartment complexes rose up hundreds of feet in the air, coming in every size and shape. Upside down buildings clung to the roof of the asteroid like massive, metallic stalactites. From a distance, the skyline could look a bit like a colossal geode bathed in dull, red light.

Flynn stared out the window at the teeming streets below, wondering what kinds of horrible things were going on. "I don't miss it one bit," he said, his hollow voice resounding inside the cabin.

Dell said nothing.

"Think the _Resolution _will be fine where we docked it?" Flynn asked, turning away from the window.

"It'll be safe."

"Like…_Omega_ safe, or…_actually_ safe?"

Dell chuckled and looked over at him. "It's the same guards that are always there, and nothing has ever happened. Relax."

Exhaling slowly, Finn nodded his head and unclenched his fists. In truth, he didn't remember balling them up. After another minute of silence, he opened his omni-tool and checked his messages. There was still no response from Qui'ann. Before they had left orbit of Elysium, he had sent a message to her on the flotilla, explaining what had happened to Vance. He had also expressed a need for her help, but he hadn't given details. Such a thing was best kept off the extranet. Still, that had been nearly two days ago, and there was still no reply. He wondered if she was away from the Migrant Fleet, perhaps on a mission of her own. If only he'd kept in contact with her…he would have up-to-date information.

"I told you," Dell said, his mandibles widening slightly. "She has better things to do than keep up with a couple of salvage jocks. She's got her own people to look after."

Flynn pursed his lips. "I know, but…we were like family once. I don't think she'd write us off. Besides, I can't think of anyone better than a quarian tech expert to crack a geth memory core."

Dell nodded. "True enough."

After a moment, they passed over a section of slums that was all too familiar. In spite of himself, Flynn's lips formed into a small grin. "Home sweet home," he said sarcastically.

Dell laughed and reduced his speed, looking out his own window at the narrow streets below. "Our old haunts. Hey, remember where we helped with our first bounty?"

Flynn laughed and scanned the emaciated rooftops, searching for the tiny tavern where he and Dell had accidentally bumped into a fugitive. "There!" he pointed to the ground.

"It's still there!" Dell said incredulously. "What were we? Ten? Twelve?"

"I was twelve, you were fourteen," Flynn corrected him, suddenly feeling nostalgic. "Man…I thought Zaeed was gonna shoot us both when he saw us."

Dell let out a bark-like laugh. "Nah, if it wasn't for us, he probably wouldn't have caught that runner."

Flynn smiled and shook his head. A thousand memories bristled in the edge of his mind, waiting to be remembered. Despite the fact that most of them had been buried for a reason, Omega seemed slightly less abhorrent to Flynn. Maybe it wasn't so bad to be back here.

A few minutes later, Dell had set down the skycar in front of an old, familiar shop. Tilting his head up, Flynn smirked at the "Swift Salvage" neon sign that buzzed loudly on the front of the building. Together with Dell, he strolled through the front door, admiring how little the place had changed.

A large brown desk, piled high with broken mechanical parts, vid projectors, and broken terminals was there to greet them. Behind it, a lone salarian flurried about, chatting excitedly on the comm while typing and searching starmaps. He didn't even acknowledge the two men as they turned to the right and strode down the dusty, white hallway. They passed several offices as they went, but their business was in the very back: the large, circular door with the red lock on it.

Dell calmly reached out and tapped the intercom on the wall.

"Who is it?" a thick voice answered.

"The two best scrappers you've ever worked with," Dell answered.

Immediately, the door's lock turned green and slid apart with a _swish_! Flynn and Dell walked confidently into the large office and stopped in front of the oversized desk that sat against the back wall.

Sal Swift, a thin-haired, overweight, olive-skinned man sat in a colossal leather chair, his beady eyes fixed on a vid screen in front of him. He growled in frustration at something he saw, slamming his ham hock fist down on the desk surface.

"Do you believe this?" He shouted, angrily gesturing to the vid screen. "First Eden Prime gets whacked, then the Citadel gets blown all to hell, then Shepard gets hisself wiped out, now some human terror group lets loose some kinda disease on Gagarin Station!"

Flynn and Dell exchanged glances, unaware of the event that Sal was referencing.

"Fuckin' unbelievable," Sal continued. "Humans attackin' humans." He switched off the vid feed and let out a sigh that Flynn could almost smell from a distance.

"Sal," Flynn says with a small smile. "Good to see you."

"Me?" Sal stood up and made his way around his desk, brushing some sort of crumbs off of his grubby white t-shirt. "Look at yous guys!" He exclaimed, pulling Flynn into an uncomfortably tight hug. Slightly surprised, Flynn could only pat Sal's back, breathing through his mouth to keep from smelling him. After a few seconds, Sal released him and gave Dell the same treatment.

"How many years since I seen you two boys?" He asked, waddling back to his desk.

"Eight years," Dell answered.

"That long?" Sal ran a hand through his thin, oily hair. "Yous guys are all growed up! Kids! You was just kids when ya first came to work for me! Now look at ya." He sat back in his chair. "I been on this rock too fuckin' long."

Before the boys could reply, a sharp tone cut through the dank air of the office. Sal leaned forward and hit the interface on his private terminal, worry lines creeping across his forehead. A young man wearing Eclipse armor appeared on the screen. His voice was inaudible, but Sal nodded as he spoke.

"All right, good. Put a few extra guys on it just in case. We lose this one and we're all out of a job." The merc nodded and the screen went blank.

"Something wrong, Sal?" Flynn asked.

Sal reclined in his chair, rubbing his thick fingers across his face. "Ah, it's this 'Archangel' guy. Some uptight turian prick – no disrespect, Dellin. You know I love ya – he's been giving the mercenary groups a whole lotta shit the past couple o'months. Sabotaging shipments, killing God knows how many guards…goddamn guy's cost me a fortune."

"It's a tough business, being a smuggler," Dell chirped jovially. "Lucky for you, we've got something that should put your mind at ease."

Sal sat up straight, an excited gleam in his eye. "You got the parts?"

"Just over twenty-five hundred kilos of geth parts," Flynn confirmed. His mock pride sounded almost believable.

Sal clapped his hands together and stood once more. "Excellent! Those babies will bring in some solid creds. Everybody wants to know more about those robot bastards!" He opened his terminal again and scanned over the readouts. "Dock one-oh-two. You boys are still flyin' that old heap?"

Flynn scoffed. "Why change a good thing?"

Sal chortled, his rotund belly quivering as he did so. "Yeah, yeah."

Flynn's omni-tool suddenly chimed softly. He was momentarily hopeful until he saw that it was from Sal.

"I'll send some guys over there to unload 'er. Meantime, you boys should head over to my apartment in the Kima district. Sleep in some real beds for a change. I just sent ya the entry code."

"You still keep that place?" Dell asked skeptically.

Sal nodded, switching off his terminal. "Yep. Ya always gotta have a nice place to put up clients and secret girlfriends."

"You mean hookers?"

"Same difference," Sal shrugged. "Either way, it's a nice place, you boys should at least stay there for the night. It's the least I can do. Yous guys really came through for me."

Flynn looked over at Dell, whose brow plates arched skyward as he nodded. "Sounds good to us," Flynn said. "Thanks, Sal."

"My pleasure, my pleasure." Sal put a hand over his heart. "I appreciate you boys doin' this for me. I'll call you if I got another job for ya, eh?"

"That would be great," Flynn said. "Nice to see you, Sal."

"Hope to see you boys again soon."

Flynn and Dell had taken Sal up on his offer. After a short trip from his office, they had made their way to his spare apartment, which was shockingly upscale for Omega. It was, undoubtedly, the most opulent place either of them had ever stayed. As soon as the door slid open, Flynn's eyes instinctively squinted against the brightness from inside.

The entire place was white. Sterile white. The floors seemed to be made of polished marble, something that seemed like it would have been out of Sal's price range. Stone columns rose perfectly from the floor that separated the sitting area from the kitchen/dining room. Cerulean velvet hung in front of the massive bay windows, matching perfectly with the throw pillows that accented the sofa set in front of them. Along the walls, every fixture was coated in spotless chrome, brilliantly reflecting the ornate décor around them. The entire thing reminded Flynn of something fit for ancient Roman royalty.

"Well, slap my ass and call me Sally"

Dell slowly swiveled his head and looked over at Flynn. "Who the hell says _that_?"

"I'm pretty sure it's a turian expression," Flynn cracked as he stepped in.

"Not to my knowledge."

Further exploration of the apartment yielded three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a sauna, and a workout room. Immediately, Flynn and Dell picked out bedrooms and shed their weapons and armor. The shower on the _Resolution _was barely bigger than a storage locker, and both men were looking forward to bathing comfortably.

Flynn cranked the hot water to full power, letting the heat wash over his bare flesh. The left side of his ribcage still held a significant amount of dried blood and medi-gel, a souvenir from his skirmish with the Blood Pack. Feeling it again refreshed a memory that he wished he would forget.

The wound was tender, and larger than he would have liked. He was going to need dermal regeneration…or stitches, at the very least. The scalding water trickling into the laceration stung significantly, but Flynn welcomed it, wishing it hurt more. Acting on impulse, he dug his thumb into the open tissue, gritting his teeth as the bathroom quickly filled with steam. Around his feet, a thin ribbon of bright crimson blood circled toward the shower drain.

Some time later, Flynn emerged from the bathroom, running a plush towel over his hair. The air was cold against his still-wet flesh, and he wished he had set out some clothes to put on. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't brought any clothes with him at all. He wondered if there would be any in the closet across from him. As he stepped further into the room, he suddenly caught a miniscule movement out corner of his left eye.

Someone was in his room.

With his adrenaline promptly shooting through him, Flynn dove across the bed tucking his nude body into a somersault and snatching up his assault rifle in one fluid motion. As he rolled off the edge of the enormous bed, he whipped the expanding barrel toward the intruder and took aim.

"Don't fucking move!"

The quarian's trembling hands shot into the air. "I – I'm sorry! Please don't shoot!" She cried.

Flynn's hardened gaze suddenly faltered. He knew that voice. "…Qui?"

Qui'ann nodded quickly, directing her visor away from Flynn's naked body. "Yes! I – I'm sorry to barge in. I came – I mean I – I went to see Sal and he – he told me that you were…here."

As she stammered her way through her explanation, Flynn hurriedly tossed his gun down pulled on the bottom half of his armor, breathing out the adrenaline that had been coursing through him

"Are you…dressed?" She asked hesitantly. Her hands were still in the air, and she remained staring at the wall until Flynn made his way over to her.

"It's okay," he told her, feeling the embarrassment on his face. "Come here, you."

Qui'ann laughed nervously as he gently pulled her into a hug. Her arms wrapped around his torso, gently at first, then tighter. She gave a small laugh. "I always wondered what you looked like naked," she jested. Her enviro-suit gave her voice a flanging effect similar to Dell's.

Flynn laughed loudly at her remark, pulling back from her. "You got a new suit. I didn't recognize you. For all I knew, you could have been someone waiting to kill me."

"Kill you?" Qui sounded genuinely surprised. "What kind of business have you been doing?"

"The bad kind," Flynn replied. He didn't enjoy the sincerity in his voice.

He made his way to the closet on the other side of the bed and opened it, grateful to see full sets of clothing, including matching ensembles for every species. Apparently, Sal did a lot of alien entertaining.

Flynn grasped the nearest set of human casuals and pulled them from the closet, furrowing his brow as he saw the logo embroidered on the cloth. "Cerberus?"

"What did you just say?" Qui asked, sounding slightly concerned.

Flynn glanced over at her. "Nothing, nothing. Turn around for a second?"

Placing her three-fingered hands on her shapely hips, Qui'ann slowly spun around and faced the opposite directions, an audible sigh coming from behind her helmet. "I already saw it once, you know."

Blushing hard, Flynn dropped his armor and hitched up the Cerberus pants. They fit snugly, but weren't overly constricting, and he liked the black-with-white-pockets color scheme. "Okay, you're good."

Qui twirled back around as Flynn was pulling his shirt over his head. "Wait!" She called, shuffling over to him.

Flynn froze. "What?"

"You're hurt," she ran a gloved finger along his left side of his ribs, causing him to wince. "Here, sit down."

With a bit of grumbling, Flynn allowed her to sit him on the edge of the bed with his left arm raised. "Go easy, doc."

Qui opened her omni-tool and tapped a few commands that Flynn couldn't understand. Hers was obviously much more advanced than his.

"How did you get this?" She asked, inspecting the wound.

Flynn lowered his head at the thought. "Aforementioned bad business."

Qui groaned. "I thought you hated fighting."

"I do."

"Then you seem to be in the wrong line of work."

Flynn chuckled softly. "You never seemed to mind it."

Qui shook her head. "I was on my pilgrimage. Adventure seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, you were…fascinating"

"So, if adventure is no longer your thing…what are you doing here?" Flynn asked, replaying the last part of her statement in his head.

A few seconds of silence followed his question. Qui'ann had ceased her scanning of his bullet wound and raised her head up. Flynn could see her eyes blinking behind her visor. "He was my friend too," she said softly.

For a moment, the two of them looked at one another, and Flynn gave a tiny smile. "I'm glad you're here." His voice was barely above a whisper. "It's good to see you."

Flynn couldn't see her lips, but he could tell she was smiling. "You too," she said.

All at once, a violent humming sound erupted from between them as she fired a focused laser at Flynn's laceration. Instantaneously, his fists and teeth clenched hard as his flesh was painfully seared together. It lasted only a moment, but felt like a lifetime.

"There," she said as she finished. "You'll have a scar."

Panting, Flynn slapped a hand over the still-warm area. "Not the end of the world," he choked out. "Thanks."

Qui gave a nod and stood up. "Now before I go see Dellin, your message said you needed my help with something."

"Oh, yeah." Flynn reached behind him on the bed, retrieving the geth memory core and his crystal from inside his armor. He held the memory core out for her, feeling a slight dread that she would have no idea what to do with it.

Tilting her head, Qui took the core from him and held it close to her visor, studying it for a few seconds before slowly looking back at him. Even behind her helmet, Flynn could see her eyes were wide.

"Flynn…where did you get this?"

**A/N-**

**So, there we go. A few clues and a little bit of backstory for our heroes. I know you're craving some action, and I promise that the next chapter will have plenty. I just wanted the audience to really get a feel for the characters, here. **

**The intrigue and adventure are just beginning. Please, stick around and see where it goes from here! =D**

**Thank you very much for reading. Feel free to leave a review, if you'd like. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Secrets of Stars: Chapter 3**

"_Concentrate on the krogan!" Dell screamed, his flanging voice booming through Flynn's earpiece. "Bring it down before it charges!" As he shouted, he rose deftly from behind the reinforced crate that he was using as cover, firing three consecutives shots from his shotgun. As he reloaded a thermal clip into his assault rifle, Flynn heard the one of the vorcha snarl in pain. Dell had hit his mark. _

_ Emboldened, Flynn scrambled to one knee and swung his body out of cover, leveling his Avenger at the massive krogan warrior that was blasting at them with his own shotgun. From inside his helmet, Flynn watched the display of his shield strength as it dropped to 60% within just a few moments. Gritting his teeth in determination, he squeezed the trigger and held it, watching as the krogan's kinetic barriers flickered away, followed by several large chunks of armor as the military grade weapon peppered the target with rounds. _

_ "Son of a bitch!" Flynn spat as he was forced to retreat back to the relative safety the flimsy wooden box that he'd been using as cover. He needed to recharge his shields before sticking his head back out there. Once more, his eyes scanned the landing pad, searching for a more secure place from which to wage combat. Still, there were none._

_ "You all right?" Vance's boisterous voice buzzed over the comm channel. _

_ "Fine!" Flynn hissed back. "Just bring that fucker down!"_

_ From behind him, Flynn heard the unmistakable rat-a-tat of Vance's SMG as he fired from behind the Blood Pack's cobbled shuttle. Panting heavily and feeling his throat tighten, Flynn ejected his heat sink once more and loaded in a fresh one. He only had one more spare. He needed to make these shots count. _

"_This krogan's a real hardass!" Vance called. "He doesn't even fight from cover! He just keeps coming!"_

_Beside him, Flynn watched Dell rise and fire two more rounds before a heavy impact to his shields forced him back down. Swallowing his trepidation, Flynn bit down on his lower lip and got to his feet, bracing the Avenger against his shoulder pad. Rather than target the krogan, however, he focused his sights on the two remaining vorcha that were flanking it. With just a short, concentrated burst, he dropped the first one with ease. Before he could swing on the second, the krogan loosed a shot from his Claymore. Flynn was able to move slightly to the right, but he still took the brunt of the shell, reducing his newly recharged shields back down to 20%. _

_SMG fire issued from behind him again as Flynn stumbled from the impact. Vance was laying down steady pressure on the krogan, giving Flynn the chance to recover. Ignoring the voice in his head that screamed for him to duck, he swung on the second vorcha once more, squeezing off several short bursts and reducing the creature to a quivering pile of raw flesh and tissue. _

_Finally giving in to his nerves, Flynn ducked behind his box and ejected the glowing heat sink, loading in the last one with a feeling of thick, horrible dread in his gut. This had to do it. As long as the others could keep that monster at bay, they just might be able to pull this off. _

"_Flynn, rocket!" Vance's warning set off terrifying alarms in Flynn's brain. Crying out in panic, he managed to get his numb feet underneath him and launch himself away from the wooden crate, barely escaping the fiery blast that turned it into kindling. The force of the rocket knocked out what was left of Flynn's shields. As his eyes focused on the LED display that blinked an ominous '0%' at him, his panic reached new heights. He tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't support him. He was able to get to his knees before he felt the Claymore shot punch cleanly through the left side of his armor, tearing across his ribs and effortlessly unzipping his flesh. By some miracle, most of the shell had missed him, but the force was still enough to put him facedown on the landing pad._

_Dell suddenly cried out in rage, a sound that was followed by several shotgun blasts and a guttural howl of anguish from the krogan. _

_Before Flynn could push himself back up, there was a hand under his right arm, easily hoisting his limp body off the ground. Vance began dragging him behind Dell's crate, desperate to get him out of the line of fire. Flynn could feel warm blood and cool medi-gel congealing in his wound. It was a sensation that he never enjoyed, but it kept the pain away, something that he was very grateful of. _

_As Vance let him drop to the surface of the pad, Flynn summoned the strength to roll over. "Vance, get down!" he growled._

_An excited laugh came as a response. "Then who's gonna save your sorry ass?"_

"_Rocket!" Dell called, crouching down and tucking his armored head._

_Raising his SMG, Vance spun to face the krogan, but it was too late. The projectile was already roaring right for him. There wasn't time to move._

"_VANCE!"_

…

Flynn shot upright in his bed, feeling a bead of sweat trickle down the bridge of his nose. His hands flopped at his sides for several seconds, searching for a weapon that wasn't there. For a long minute, he sat in place, his legs dangling from the end of his azure covered bed. He drew in slow breaths, trying to steady his heart as it hammered against his ribcage. How long would these dreams last?

Ignoring the deep chill that had swept over him, his ears perked at the sound of feminine laughter coming from out in the sitting area, revealing that Qui and Dell were still in the apartment. After Qui'ann had begun analyzing the geth memory core, Flynn had given in to his exhaustion and gone for a nap.

Opening his eyes and jaw wide, Flynn stretched out the skin over his face and drew a deep breath through his nose. Oddly, he felt more drained now than he had before he'd gone to sleep. After checking his omni-tool, he discovered he'd been asleep for just over two hours. Maybe Qui had discovered something by now.

Fearing repercussions from the Admiralty Board, she'd been initially opposed to the idea of tampering with geth parts. Fortunately, after Flynn had explained the incident in the _Resolution'_s cargo hold, she seemed genuinely curious as to why the geth would be interested in Flynn's crystal. Once he had explained that the memory core would hold answers, Qui's initial hesitance had all but vanished.

Still dressed in his Cerberus-embroidered casuals, Flynn slid off the bed and steadied himself on his feet. He wasn't hungry at all, but he knew he needed to eat something. He'd never get his energy back if he didn't. As he made his way to his bedroom door, he heard Qui let out another flanging laugh.

"I think he'd have both of our heads if he knew," she said.

Flynn froze on the spot, his breath catching in his throat. He quietly pressed himself against the solid doorframe, careful to keep himself concealed. He strained his ears, trying to discern what kind of conversation they were having.

"Oh, I know he would," Dell replied to her. "Don't worry, this conversation stays between us."

_Wrong, _Flynn thought maliciously. What were they going on about?

Qui giggled. "Does he still get really angry when people talk about him?"

"Unless he's had a very recent personality transplant," Dell cracked. "But, I am serious. He does still talk about you. Don't tell him I told you, but he does."

Qui didn't respond immediately, and Flynn suddenly found himself pressed very hard against the wall outside his bedroom, feverishly chewing his index fingernail.

"What…What does he…say?" She finally asked, sounding slightly embarrassed.

Dell chuckled. "He keeps insisting we invite you back to the crew. Of all the members we've had, I think he misses you the most."

Flynn's eyebrow crept skyward. Flynn rarely ever spoke of Qui'ann, and while Dell's last statement was true, Flynn had no recollection of ever telling him such a thing. Apparently, the turian's intuition was better than Flynn would have imagined.

"You…really think so?" Qui asked.

"Oh, I'm positive," Dell groaned. He sounded like he was stretching. "He was pretty broken up when you left."

Smiling to himself from his hiding spot, Flynn finally understood what Dell was doing. "Laying the groundwork," he mumbled to the wall. He decided he was going to give the turian a colossal kiss if ever he got the chance.

Qui gave a small laugh. "He just doesn't like separating from his friends."

"True," Dell conceded. "But, to him…you were much more than just a friend."

_Damn it, Dell. Don't overdo it, _Flynn thought.

Qui was silent for several excruciating seconds. "Really?" She asked, trying to hide the eagerness in her voice. "What…makes you say that?"

Flynn decided to make his move before Dell took things too far. Yawning loudly, he traipsed his way into the sitting room, feigning grogginess as he rubbed his eyes and dragged his heels.

"Look who it is," Dell said, his mandibles widening as he flashed a toothy grin. "Is naptime over already?" He was wearing a navy blue outfit, the turian equivalent of casual clothes, accented with white piping and a white collar that hugged tightly to his neck.

Qui'ann, who had been hunched over a terminal, looked over her shoulder and gave Flynn a small wave as he approached. Her entire lap was glowing orange and yellow. A personal terminal was open in front of her, as well as her omni-tool and several datapads lying haphazardly around her. Hacking a geth memory core was clearly more difficult than Flynn had imagined.

"Feeling any better?" Qui asked.

Flynn gave her a tiny smile. "A little," he lied. "Good to see you two catching up so well."

Qui shifted her weight slightly. "Yes, we…Dellin was just…um…" She swung her helmet towards Dell, who cleared his throat.

"Just filling her in on the last couple of years," he finished for her.

Flynn nodded. _Nice cover, _he thought to himself as he sat down on the couch next to Qui. Rolling his stiff shoulders, he gave Dell a questioning gaze. "Sal?"

"Transfer came through while you were out," Dell explained. "Twelve thousand credits and a full tank of fuel."

Flynn laughed loudly and tilted his head back, resting it on the soft couch cushions behind him. "Well, that'll definitely help out."

"Indeed."

The tone of Dell's voice made Flynn's brow wrinkle. He eyed the turian suspiciously, noticing the way his mandibles drooped slightly below his jaw. "When was the last time you slept?" Flynn asked him.

Dell shrugged wearily. "Don't know. Before that geth attacked you, I suppose."

"What?" Flynn scoffed. "That was…over two days ago."

Beside Flynn, Qui'ann scrolled her fingers through a series of readouts from the terminal, keeping her head lowered as she worked.

"I'm not tired," Dell replied frankly. With a suppressed groan, he stood up and ran a talon along his head spikes. "I am hungry, though. Strangely, the refrigerator in this place has dextro food. Qui even had some of the nutrient paste."

Flynn nodded, jabbing a thumb toward the wall behind him. "Yeah, my closet's full of clothes for different species. Even Krogan."

"So is mine," Dell said, patting his breast. "That's where I got this."

At these words, Qui'ann finally looked up from her work. "Does _yours _have a Cerberus logo on it, too?" She asked, casting a sideways glance at Flynn.

Flynn rolled his eyes. She had told him what Cerberus had done to the Migrant Fleet just after it happened a year ago. He understood her disdain toward the organization. He wasn't a fan of them, either. Even so, she had no reason to be upset at the moment.

"Qui, relax," he said. "I'm not joining up with them. It's just some clothes." He gave her a reassuring smile and patted her lightly on the shoulder, feeling the cross-grained texture of her enviro-suit under his fingertips. "I think they compliment my athletic physique, don't you?"

Qui'ann furtively glanced down at his hand before relenting with a soft laugh. "All right, fine. But, if we end up involved with Cerberus, I'm going to…injure you…somehow."

Flynn laughed and slapped a hand over the spot where she had lasered him earlier. "Even worse than this?"

Qui giggled loudly. "Don't be a baby. That was a flesh wound!"

"I'll give _you _a flesh wound," Flynn mumbled, playfully nudging her with his shoulder.

Dell suddenly gave a loud groan and sauntered into the kitchen, shaking his head as he went. He buried his head in the oversized refrigerator before Flynn could say anything to him.

"Anyway," Flynn said, focusing his attention. "Did you come up with anything on the memory core?"

"I think I've decrypted all that I'm going to get," she answered, closing her terminal and handing one of her datapads to Flynn. "There's plenty of information I couldn't get to. Maybe if I had a full tech lab and some help, there would be more…but I could face exile just for doing this."

"I understand," Flynn humored her. "I appreciate the risk you're taking."

Qui gave him a nod before continuing. "Okay, the bad news first: the geth do have your emissions signature, your EM profile, and all of your ship transponder information."

"Shit," Flynn spat. "So they can find us?"

"We keep the transponder switched off unless we're coming in to port," Dell spouted as he emerged from the kitchen with a bottle of orange liquid.

Qui nodded. "Good idea. But, they can still get your travel history if they hack your VI again."

"Can they do that remotely?" Flynn asked.

"If they're close enough," she shrugged. "And you've also got a giant target on your ship, now. If you get near even one single geth trooper, they can pinpoint your location in a matter of seconds and have a ship intercept you. _Aaaand_ as long as they have your signatures, they can follow your FTL trail with ease."

Flynn let out a massive sigh, raising his thumb to his lips. "Perfect," he grumbled as he began chewing his thumbnail.

"So, that's the bad news," Dell said dejectedly. "Anything good?"

Qui opened her omni-tool and brought up a three-dimensional rendering of a lush-looking garden planet. "Well," she began, "I think your crystal is prothean." She held the cone in the palm of her gloved hand. "There is a significant amount of information stored within it, but…there's nothing else to identify what it is, though."

Flynn ceased his nail biting and cracked a lopsided smile. "_Prothean_? I have a _prothean_ artifact?"

"What makes you think it's prothean?" Dell asked, taking a seat on the loveseat that he had occupied before.

"I'm not one-hundred-percent positive," Qui answered, thumbing through a second datapad. "But it looks like the geth had started to cross-reference the crystal's information with a specific prothean site on the planet Gei Hinnom." She gestured to the digital planet hovering above her omni-tool.

Flynn fidgeted in his seat as he absorbed what she was telling him. "So, there's a link between my crystal and a set of prothean ruins on Gei Hinnom?"

"I can't…say…for sure," Qui replied apologetically. "But, the geth definitely seemed to think so."

"Where is Gei Hinnom?" Dell asked, his brow plates arched in thought.

Qui dropped her datapad and let out a troubled sigh. "In the Sheol system…of the Hades Nexus."

"The Hades Nexus?" Dell asked ominously.

"Fantastic," Flynn said with a weak laugh. "Right next to the Perseus Veil."

Qui nodded slowly. "Right next to geth space."

There was a long moment of silence between the trio. Flynn stared at the slowly rotating image of Gei Hinnom on Qui's omni-tool. Somewhere on that planet, there were answers that he had been seeking for the better part of a decade. Even so, going there would mean walking into the lion's den. The geth had practically put a hit out on the _Resolution_.

"We need to get there," Flynn said, his eyes locked on his bare feet. He could feel both of their heads turn toward him, and their dissent was on the air before it left their lips.

Qui responded first. "You're out of your mind."

"We _need _to get out of Terminus. Quickly," Dell added.

Flynn shook his head. "No. We have this information, now. Finally! After seven years!" He looked up at Dell. "We have to go before the geth get there."

Dell leaned forward in his seat and raised a talon to his brow. "Listen to yourself. Think for a moment. If the geth are going there, they'll be expecting us. They know we have the crystal, so they know that we need to get to Gei Hinnom. They'll be waiting for us! We'll walk right into an ambush!"

"They don't know that we know about the ruins," Flynn protested, rising to his feet. They couldn't have anticipated us being able to get ahold a memory core. Even if they did…if we go now, they won't have had enough time to set up a trap! We can get in there and get to the ruins before they even know we were there!"

"Will you just…think for a moment?"

Ignoring him, Flynn spun to face Qui'ann, who had been sitting nervously amidst the growing tension. "Qui, do you think the geth would actually try and set a trap for us?"

The quarian wrung her hands for a moment before replying. "Well…they will have had to build a consensus – which they would have probably finished by now – and they would probably have deemed it relatively low as a priority. So…it's likely that they would send a scout ship to watch for our possible arrival. If we were detected near the planet, they would bring in reinforcements."

"See?" Flynn said, turning back to Dell. "We'd only have to skirt by one scout ship. _If _that. We've run blockades before! We can do this!"

It was Dell's turn to stand. Rising to his full height, roughly five inches taller than Flynn, he drew in a deep breath and glared hard at the human. "No!" He bellowed. "I'm not going off on another half-witted, impulsive plan. Those have a tendency of going wrong for us!"

Flynn stared back at him, his mouth hanging slightly agape. He blinked for a few moments, unable to think of a suitable reply. Across from him, Dell's mandibles twitched in the silence.

"I'm…I'm sorry I said that," Dell sighed, his flanging voice still maintaining a stern tone. "But, you have to think about this. It's just not worth the trouble. The geth aren't something to take lightly. You almost got killed by _half _of one!"

"Dell," Flynn breathed, his voice breaking. "My father, Dell. This is something that he left for me, I know it. I…_need_…to do this."

Dell looked at him for a long moment before sighing heavily. The pity on Dell's face was obvious. He clicked his teeth together, thinking silently for a few moments before tilting his head back and swallowing the last of the orange liquid he'd been holding. "I think we need to take a couple of hours, and then…then we can talk about this some more."

Flynn nodded slowly. "Fine. Two hours."

Dropping his empty bottle on the loveseat, Dell drew a deep breath and slowly ambled off in the direction of his room, leaving Flynn leering after him.

"He'll do it," Qui said quietly from her seat. "You know he will."

Flopping down beside her once more, Flynn rubbed his weary eyes. "I know. He just can't do it until he makes me feel like shit about it first. That's just how he is."

"Think about it from his perspective. You're asking him to risk his life."

Flynn scoffed. "It's far from the first time. Hell, I've _saved _his life a hundred times."

Qui nodded. "And how many times has he saved yours?"

"I don't know," Flynn retorted, feeling sheepish. "Probably the same."

"Exactly," Qui said. "Don't think that he owes you. He'll do it because he loves you. He'll risk his life just to help you. You can't ask for more than that."

Flynn sat in silence for a minute, soaking in her words. She was right, of course. Amazingly, she'd been apart from them for five years, but she still knew both of them as if she had never left.

"Don't say he loves me," Flynn mumbled with a laugh. "Don't make it weird."

Qui giggled, the sound of which resonated magnificently off of the marble floors. "Sorry. I didn't mean to question your manliness."

Flynn scoffed and elbowed her playfully. He enjoyed having her around. He was grateful for the warmth that she provided.

"I'm coming with you," she said, suddenly shifting the mood of their conversation.

Flynn looked over at her. "What?"

"When you leave for Gei Hinnom," she clarified. "I'm coming with you."

"What about the Flotilla? You aren't doing anything important?"

Qui shrugged. "Searching for possible new homeworlds. But, I'll send a message. The _Tesleya _will be fine without me for a while."

Flynn smiled. He knew how important her people were to her. The fact that she wanted to stay with him spoke volumes. "Thanks," he said genuinely.

"You're welcome," she replied. Again, even behind her visor, he could see that she was smiling.

An hour passed quickly as Flynn and Qui talked alone in the sitting room. He learned that she had come to Omega on another ship that arrived to search for replacement ship parts. As their conversation grew longer, the two of them edge closer to one another, closing the gap between them on the couch. They now rested against each other, enjoying the closeness as they talked. After exchanging stories and a few jokes, the conversation turned once again toward Flynn's crystal.

"So, I was there when you dug that thing up," Qui said. "You never said anything about it being related to your father."

Flynn sighed. "Yeah, I…don't really make a habit of mentioning him."

"I'm sorry," Qui said quickly. "I didn't mean to be nosy."

"No, it's okay," Flynn assured her. "It's just a…really long story."

"Can I get a condensed version?"

Flynn drew a deep breath. He heard the faint chime of an omni-tool as he exhaled. It wasn't his, so he assumed it had come from Dell's room. "Well," he began. "When I was kid here on Omega, I lived with my dad. He got discharged from the Alliance, so we moved here. He had to do some shady things for us to get by, but I guess he got mixed up in something crazy. One day, I go home and he's gone. The only thing he left behind was an empty apartment and an old datapad with one word on it."

"He was just…gone?"

"Yep."

"Wow…not even a goodbye message?"

"Nope."

Qui shook her head. "Keelah. Just one word?"

"Yep."

"What…what was the word?"

Flynn smirked. "It was 'Streetcars'. That was all he left."

"Streetcars? What did it mean?"

"To this day, I have no idea."

Qui rested a three-fingered hand on his knee. "And you think he left that crystal for you to find?"

"Well…I don't know who else it could have been," Flynn replied honestly.

Before Qui'ann could respond, Dell emerged from his room, wearing his entire set of armor and walking briskly. "Suit up," he said sharply. "Sal wants to see us. He says he's got another job for us."

Flynn sat forward. "What job? What about Gei Hinnom?"

Dell opened the door to the apartment and turned around to face Flynn. "Go get dressed. I'll get a car." With that, he stepped out the door and let it slide closed behind.

"God damn it," Flynn muttered.

Twenty minutes later, Flynn, Dell, and Qui'ann stood outside Sal's office door, a stony silence lingering over the three of them. Shrugging against his heavy armor, Flynn punched the intercom, sighing as he waited for a reply.

"Who is it?" Sal's voice crackled over the speaker.

"Flynn."

The door's lock promptly turned green and slid open. The trio strolled into the office and stopped in front of Sal's cluttered desk. Behind it, Sal looked exactly the same…except his facial expression was considerably sterner than it had been earlier. Flynn wondered if the purple-skinned asari standing in the corner was the reason for it.

She was dressed in thick brown leather, a one-piece, skin-tight suit with a dozen straps and pads over the joins for added protection. No bulky armor, but Flynn knew the asari were capable of generating biotic fields that were stronger than his kinetic barriers. She looked beautiful. She looked dangerous. He knew immediately that she was a Commando.

"Welcome back," Sal said, lacking all of his earlier enthusiasm. "I see she found you boys all right."

Dell gave a nod of acknowledgement. "You said you had a job?"

Sal cast a furtive look at the asari. "Uh, yeah. I got a little…operation going on right now in the Hades Nexus."

Flynn, Dell, and Qui exchange a quick glance. "The Hades Nexus," Flynn says, trying to hide his smile. "That's…perfect."

"What's the gig?" Dell sighed, folding his arms impatiently.

Sal leaned forward and rested his pudgy elbows on his desk. "I got some crates of eezo that need to get picked up from Volkov. It's an asteroid in the Pamyat system. I made a deal with some folks, and I need that zero on Omega ASAP."

Flynn raised an eyebrow. "So why can't these 'folks' just go and get it themselves? Why pay you to pay someone else to do it?"

"They ain't payin' me shit," Sal said gruffly. "They did a few things for me here and there, so…now, I gotta return the favor. Besides, the Archangel asshole is still causing too much trouble. He knows all their freight ships and suppliers. They need a ship that doesn't belong to them, something that Archangel and his asswipe squad won't suspect."

"The Hades Nexus is right next to geth space," Qui chimed in. "That's going to put us in a lot of danger."

Sal scratched at his shining scalp. "Yeah, I know. That's why I'm gonna pay you fifteen thousand."

"What's the catch?" Dell asked, his voice was still tainted with displeasure. Despite his misgivings, though, fifteen thousand credits was too good to pass up.

Sal leaned back in his chair, tilting his head toward the purple-skinned asari. "This is Riala. She's gonna be ridin' with you boys."

Riala stepped forward, smiling politely and extending her hand to Dell, who gently took it in his talon. "Pleased to meet you," she said cordially.

Dell blinked at her. "Hi." All traces of negativity were suddenly gone from his voice.

The asari proceeded to Qui'ann, who shook her had slowly. "Hello."

Finally, Riala stepped up to Flynn and extended her hand. "I'm looking forward to working with you," she said, still maintaining her smile.

Flynn took her hand gingerly, apprehensively of her. He had only known one other asari in his life. They had been friends, but she had also tried to kill him. After a moment, he tightened his grip and shook her hand properly. "Hi," he said to her.

After she stepped to the side, Flynn turned his attention back to Sal. "What gives?"

Sal shrugged. "The guys that want the eezo…they sent her to make sure all the crates get back here."

"So she's insurance?" Qui asked, sounding unconvinced.

"They don't trust me," Sal said with a loud chuckle. "They just want to make sure I don't fuck with the shipment."

"It's nothing personal," Riala said, sounding apologetic. "My employers deal with a lot of…nefarious people. They can't trust anyone in their line of work."

"Twenty thousand," Flynn said, his eyes boring into Sal's. "Another mouth to feed, another body in the way…that just makes things harder for us."

Sal's beady eyes darted between Flynn and Riala for a moment. Finally, his mouth turned into a frown as he nodded. "Twenty thousand." He said ruefully. After a few seconds, he gazed at Flynn with a strange look in his eye. It seemed almost like…pride? "You boys've come a long way."

Dell chuckled. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

As Sal gave one final nod, the three friends turned to leave his office. Dell hurried forward and sidled up next to Riala as the door slid open. "I'm Dellin," he said. "I'm just going to warn you that our ship is just _bit _cramped, but…I can help you get set up."

Flynn and Qui exchanged a smile. "He's so smooth," Qui jested. Flynn laughed and fell in behind her. Before he exited the door, however, Sal called out to him.

"Hey Flynn," he said, sounding nervous.

Turning on his heel, Flynn spun around to face his old boss. "Yeah?"

Sal's forehead was wrinkled more than usual as his tongue slid back and forth over his bottom lip. He looked hesitant, more unsteady than he normally did.

"What?" Flynn asked, raising an eyebrow.

After another few seconds, Sal finally sighed, looking up at Flynn with a hint of sadness in his eye. "I'll see ya 'round, kid."

Flynn felt a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. "Relax, Sal. We'll be fine. Sorry to bust your balls about that extra five kay."

"Yeah," Sal said quietly. "Just…be careful."

Nodding, Flynn turned back to door where Qui had been waiting for him. Together, they walked out of the office, letting the door slide shut behind them.

"What was that about?" Qui asked.

Flynn shook his head. "I don't know."

**A/N-**

**All right! A little flashback action, a little development, a bit of drama, and an important snippet of Flynn's history. PLUS! They finally have a lead on the origins of the mysterious crystal!**

**Also…is it just me, or was Sal acting kind of strange just then? Hmmm..**

**Stick around for the next chapter! Things are about to get very interesting…and very dangerous ;)**

**Thank you so much for reading. I really hope you're enjoying it so far. Feel free to leave a review/comment if you'd like :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Secrets of Stars: Chapter 4**

With the relay jump now behind them, Flynn tapped a few commands into the holographic displays in front of him. He would have to pass through the Hekate system before heading to Sheol, and it was going to take some time to get there, even at FTL speeds. He checked the ladar scans, making sure there were no geth-like silhouettes in the vicinity. Since learning of the possibility of a geth attack, Flynn felt slightly uncomfortable behind the controls. It wasn't usual for him to feel uneasy in the pilot's chair, but if a battle were to break out, he knew Dell would be a better fit at the helm. Interestingly, Dell had spent every waking moment with Riala since leaving Omega, which left Flynn and Qui'ann to navigate the ship. Behind him, slightly to the right, Qui faced the co-pilot's console, her nimble fingers moving deftly over the displays.

"Coordinates locked in," she said matter-of-factly. "ETA to Gei Hinnom is approximately seven hours."

Flynn nodded, bringing up the coordinates in his nav screen. "Jump to FTL on my mark," he said robotically. "Three…two…one…mark."

The cockpit windows gave a small tremble, blurring the stars outside as the drive core fired up. In the blink of an eye, the _Resolution _became faster than the speed of light. The view port was blazing, swathed in ribbons of blue and white light that danced across the bow of the ship.

"I'm impressed!" Qui exclaimed from her seat. "A new, gigantic FTL drive, antiproton-hydrogen thrusters, and diffusion radiator arrays. You've really upgraded the old girl since I was last on board!"

Flynn laughed and spun his chair around to face hers. "Well, they come in real handy when you need to skirt patrol ships or make quick liftoffs from a planet's surface. We're now equipped for combat, too. Got a double-light MAC turret on the belly, and a Mark Three disruptor torpedo tube."

Qui chuckled. "Wow, you're ready for anything, aren't you?" She jibed,

"You won't be so quick to laugh if we run into a geth scout ship," Flynn said mirthfully. "You'll be thanking me, and…possibly declaring me your personal hero."

"Don't count on it," She shot back.

Flynn rolled his eyes and smiled. "I'm gonna go get some coffee. You want anything?"

"No, thank you."

Standing up with a groan, Flynn ducked out of the cockpit and stepped onto the metal floor of the gangway. He passed his cabin, which seemed very inviting, and then Dell's, which was empty. Flynn raised an eyebrow. The turian must have been back in the small passenger cabin where Riala had been stowed. The guy always did have a weakness for asari.

As he made his way to the galley, however, Flynn was surprised to see Riala standing with her back to the sink, a small mug resting delicately in her purple hands. "Hello," she said, smiling politely as he approached. Her shifting gaze and hunched shoulders suggested she was nervous, as if she expected Flynn to scold her for drinking his coffee.

"Hi," he replied, smoothing out his old black t-shirt. "Where did, uh…Dell get off to?"

Riala smiled and pointed over Flynn's shoulder. Confused, he turned around and chuckled, seeing Dell face down on the lounge table in the corner. His arms were splayed haphazardly over the surface, his crest rising and falling with each loud snore.

"Wow," Flynn said, making his way over to the drink dispenser. "Looks like he got hit with a tranq dart."

"I feel bad for him," Riala said, looking over at Dell with sympathy. "He told me he hasn't been sleeping."

Flynn furrowed his brow and put a mug under the dispenser. "He told _you _that? Coffee."

At once, the steaming, brown liquid began trickling from the machine, slowly filling his oversized mug.

Riala nodded. "Yeah. I'm…guess it has something to do with whoever stayed in there." Raising a slender hand, she pointed to the closed door of the passenger cabin that Vance had called home. The black 'GO FUCK YOURSELF' scrawled across the metallic gray surface of the door never failed to make Flynn smile.

"Since he's not here," Riala mused, "and judging by that look on your face…I'm assuming he died recently."

Flynn grimaced at the door, heaving a deep sigh. "Yeah," he said curtly. "Dell spill the beans on that one, too?"

Riala shook her head, smiling compassionately. "I'm over two hundred years old. I've had the time to gain the ability of deduction."

Smirking, Flynn turned away from Vance's door and grasped his large, steaming mug of coffee. Carefully tilting the cup toward his lips, he drew a small sip and winced as it burned the sensitive flesh of his tongue. The coffee was strong and bitter, just how he liked it.

"So, how did you two meet?" Riala asked, keeping her voice hushed to avoid waking Dell. "There's definitely history between you. He's your best friend, right?"

Flynn smiled at her before looking back over at Dell. "No," he answered. "He's my brother."

She smiled for a short second. "You grew up together?"

"Yep," Flynn said with a nod. "On Omega. First time we met, we actually got in a fistfight."

Riala grinned at him. "Really?"

"It was only nine years after the Relay 314 Incident," Flynn clarified. "Humans and turians were still a little sore towards each other. We were just kids, anyway."

"But you became friends, somehow."

"All we had to do was talk to each other," Flynn chuckled. "We realized we were much better suited as friends rather than enemies."

"It's evident," Riala said, sipping her coffee. After a few seconds of silence, she turned to him, tilting her head to the side. "So, how did you two end up in the salvage business?"

Flynn took a drink of his own coffee and drew a deep breath. "Kind of a long story, but…I'll give it a shot." He leaned against the sink next to her and crossed his feet. "We did our share of scavenging when we were young. Just a couple of street urchins, ya know? Well, one day we met a bounty hunter named Zaeed Massani. We accidentally tripped up the guy he was chasing. He thanked us, gave us a few creds, and…realized that he could use us to help him track down and spy on a few other bounties."

"No one ever pays attention to the street rats," Riala said with a nod.

Flynn chuckled. "Exactly. We were basically invisible. Anyway, Zaeed collected all his bounties, paid us for helping, and I guess he liked us. He got us in contact with Sal. You met Sal…he's a charmer."

"Oh, most certainly."

Flynn laughed. "He's always been like that. But…we dropped Zaeed's name, and Sal gave us a shot. We worked for him for a long time. We did salvage, we did gun work, whatever we could to earn some credits."

"But you left?"

"Yeah," Flynn nodded, taking another gulp of coffee. "There was that attack on Elysium in '76. Plenty of destruction. Sal sent us there to salvage what we could. We met Vance," he nodded to the closed cabin door, "and the three of us hit it off. Vance's dad was an Alliance officer, had his own Kodiak shuttle, so…being nineteen years old…I see it as a great opportunity to go into business for ourselves."

Riala smiled, her purple lips pulling back to reveal her perfect teeth. "The brashness of youth," she joked. "At least you two don't lack for courage."

Scratching the back of his head, Flynn exhaled slowly. "Yeah," he muttered.

"So," she began again, not allowing the conversation to die. "How did you end with this ship?"

Flynn shrugged. "Well, we couldn't use a little shuttle forever," he said, feeling his ears growing warm. "We worked, saved up, and bought the first ship we could afford."

"I'm surprised you were able to find a relic like this. Canton class, right?"

Flynn nodded. "Yeah, you can find anything on Omega. She took a little work, but I wouldn't trade her for anything."

"Speaking of relics," Riala said, shimmying closer to Flynn. Her eyes were suddenly a bit wider, more excited. "Dellin tells me you have a prothean artifact."

Flynn blinked at her for a few seconds before shooting an angry glare at the unconscious turian in the corner of the room.

_What _didn't_ you tell this girl? _Flynn thought silently._ She's been on the ship less than a day, for Chrissake!_

"Don't worry," Riala said with a smile. "It's not a big deal. I won't tell."

Flynn sighed heavily and looked over at her. She was cute, which – for some reason – alleviated most of his aggravation. Maybe Dell wasn't the only sucker for asari…

Reaching into his pocket, Flynn retrieved the crystal cone and held it out for her to see. "His big mouth was right."

Riala leaned forward, inspecting the crystal with her sharp, silvery eyes. "Wow," she breathed. "Do you know what it is?"

"Not yet."

The asari stood straight again, leaning against the sink. "Where did you get it?" She asked.

Flynn raised his eyebrows and let out a slow breath. Flynn knew he shouldn't say. It wasn't safe to tell anyone anything about the crystal, but…something about this girl made Flynn feel that it was all right to do so. "You ever hear of Parnassus?"

"Parnassus?" Riala asked, pursing her lips as she thought. "I can't say that I have."

"I'm not surprised," Flynn said with a smile. "Most people haven't…for good reason. It's a little volcanic planet in the Rosetta Nebula."

"All right."

Flynn nodded. "Anyway, about seven years ago, we get a message over the terminal. No sender name, nothing. We can't trace it. But, it's addressed to me. It has the name of that planet, and a set of coordinates. Now…here's where it gets interesting…when we checked the galactic database from the citadel, we confirmed the name…but there was no other information about the planet."

Riala's eyebrows pulled together. "What? No information?"

"Nope," Flynn shook his head, smiling at her expression. "No history, no statistics, nothing. Strangely enough, the planet right next to it _had _been documented. And considering the fact that Parnassus has structures on its surface, there's no way in hell that it was just…overlooked."

"So," Riala said, looking very intrigued. "It's in a documented system, right next to another documented planet, and it has a _name_…but…"

"All the information and history are missing," Flynn finished for her. "Someone must have deleted it from the Citadel records."

Riala scoffed, her eyes twinkling with excitement. "By the Goddess. That _is _interesting."

"It gets better," Flynn said with a wide grin. "I convince the crew to go there, we track the coordinates to a part of the planet where there's nothing at all. When we get down there, I see the ground had recently been dug. It just happens to be in the exact same location as our coordinates, so…I start digging."

"What was there?" Riala asked, her eyes wide as saucers.

"A small metal box," Flynn replied, pausing dramatically before adding "With my name written on it."

Riala's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? Your name was on it?"

"Yep," Flynn nodded. "This was inside." He held up the crystal once more, both of them scrutinizing it.

"Who put it there?"

Flynn shrugged. "…I don't know."

Setting her mug in the sink, Riala exhaled loudly and shook her head. "Wow," she said with a smile. "That's amazing."

Flynn slipped the crystal back into his pocket, feeling slightly foolish for having shared his biggest secret with someone he barely knew at all.

"We're not going to Volkov, are we?" Riala said, a knowing look in her silver eyes.

Flynn thought for a moment, staring at her for several seconds before answering. "Yes. But, we have to make a stop first."

To his surprise, Riala didn't seem excited at all. Her face fell slightly, adding a nervous look to her purple features. "Gei Hinnom?"

Flynn's jaw tightened. "How the hell did you know that?" He asked, studying her expression. "Did Dell tell you?"

She swallowed. "Is it going to be dangerous?"

"Probably," Flynn replied honestly. "There may be geth involved." He continued to stare at her, making no attempt to soften his gaze. He waited for her to react.

Before she could say anything, however, there was a loud snort from across the galley and Dell snapped upright in his seat behind the lounge table. "Rocket!" He blurted groggily as he whipped his head from side to side. When his golden eyes fell on Flynn and Riala, he did his best to compose himself.

"Ya know…you _have _a bed," Flynn cracked.

Riala quickly strode to the turian's side and ducked underneath one of his heavy arms. "Come on, sleepyhead. Let's get you tucked in."

Groaning loudly, Dell got to his feet and shuffled out of the galley, leaning heavily on the small asari as they made their way to his cabin. Flynn chewed the inside of his lip, wondering just what the two of them would be doing together.

Sighing heavily, Flynn pushed himself off of the sink and headed up the gangway to the cockpit, throwing a smile to Qui'ann as he took his seat at the helm.

"I don't like her," Qui said.

Flynn raised an eyebrow and spun his chair to face her. "What?"

Qui spun her own seat to face right back at him. "I don't like her," she repeated. "There's something about her I just don't like."

"Is it because she's purple instead of blue?" Flynn asked with a grin.

Qui crossed her arms indignantly. "I mean it. I don't trust her. And I can't believe you blabbered about your crystal to her."

Flynn narrowed his eyes and smirked, trying hard to see her expression through her visor. "Qui'ann vas Tesleya…are you jealous?"

"No, you bosh'tet!" Qui exclaimed angrily, spinning back around to face her console. "Just forget it."

Still holding a smirk on his face, Flynn slowly swiveled his chair around to face the nav screens. "You don't need to be jealous."

Qui said nothing.

"We'd better make up our mind! They've already detected us in orbit by now!" Dell was sitting at the helm of the _Resolution_, shouting furiously at the crowd of people that had wedged themselves into the small cockpit. "Are we setting down there, or not?"

Flynn cast a look to Qui'ann, who was once again in the co-pilot's seat. "You're sure these are the right coordinates? We're at the correct set of ruins, right?"

Qui looked up at him, her eyes glaring from behind her visor. "No, we've been going in the wrong direction for days," she snapped. "Of course it's correct. Please…if you're going to be insulting me for this whole trip, I'm going back to the Flotilla."

"Do it," Flynn said, ignoring her dig at him. "I don't care if we have to knock down some trees. We don't have a shuttle, and there's no better LZ anywhere near those ruins, so…set 'er down, Dell."

"Oh, Goddess," Riala whispered.

Flynn shot her sideways glance. "Don't worry," he said to her. "I'm a stellar pilot…and Dell's even better than I am. We'll be fine."

"I'm not scared to land a ship. I've done it a million times," Riala said defensively.

Flynn raised an eyebrow. "Then, what –?"

"Hang on!" Dell called out. His warning preceded the atmospheric entry by only a few seconds.

The _Resolution_ gave an almighty lurch, jarring the four people crammed in the cockpit. The entire ship began creaking and groaning, protesting loudly against the strain that was being put on her aged bulkheads. Fire had engulfed the nose of the ship, billowing up around the view port. Flynn wished they had closed the shutters before entering the atmosphere.

"Heat sink fully operational," Qui called from her seat. "Kinetic barriers holding."

After just a few moments, the turbulence was over, and the ship once again fell still. Flynn breathed a quiet sigh of relief, still feeling his heart thudding quickly against his chest. He had complete faith in his old ship. They had been through hell and back together, but he could never stop himself from thinking that something simple would be the end of her.

"Antiproton thrusters operational," Dell announced, smoothly steering the ship over the lush canopy of trees beneath them.

Flynn turned to Qui, angling himself so that he could see her over Riala's head. "Qui, can you get any readings from those ruins?"

"I'm already getting strange energy signatures," she replied. "Instead of buying guns, you should have upgraded your tech. VIC is having trouble compensating."

Riala suddenly glanced downward, her eyes fixed on Flynn's pants. "Your…leg…is glowing."

"What?" Flynn glanced down. Sure enough, his crystal was shining brightly, the light emanating powerfully through the fabric of his pants. Wriggling his hand into his pocket, he retrieved the crystal and opened his fist, letting the light envelop the small cockpit.

"Please!" Dell roared. "Can we try _not _blinding the pilot? I'd rather not join the protheans in extinction!"

Flynn crammed the crystal cone back into his pocket and seized the back of Dell's seat, bracing himself for the impending landing.

VIC's mechanical voice was barely audible over the cockpit commotion. "Initiating touchdown protocol."

"Ninety meters," Qui'ann called, her fingers raced across the luminescent displays. "Seventy…forty…twenty…ten…"

"Landing gear down," Dell growled through his teeth. He was understandably nervous. It wasn't often that the _Resolution _made surface landings. Coincidentally, this was the second time within ten days.

The ship gave another tremendous lurch as the landing gear made contact with the planet's terrain. There were innumerable creaks and grinds that accompanied the landing, and the crew held their breath as the sounds slowly dissipated.

"Touchdown protocol complete," VIC crackled.

As one, the cockpit quartet let out a collective sigh of relief. Flynn patted Dell on the shoulder, unable to say anything before Riala rushed forward.

"Excellent flying, Dellin!" She chirped merrily, hugging his neck from behind.

Flynn turned to Qui and gave her smile. "Good work," he said with a chuckle.

"Thank you," she said, sounding pleased with herself.

"Everybody gear up!" Flynn shouted as he made his way to his cabin. "We disembark in five!" With his crystal still glowing brightly, he retrieved his armor and drew a slow breath, suddenly finding that his fingers were trembling. Despite his excitement, he needed to be cautious. There was no telling what he would find in those ruins.

"And make sure you're armed!"

"Equalizing cargo hold pressure with exterior atmosphere," VIC hummed monotonously.

After a few seconds of silence, the cargo elevator began to lower, whirring loudly as it slowly descended to the ground. Around the ship, enormous, trees lay on their sides and against other trunks. The LZ hadn't been quite big enough to accommodate the _Resolution_, but some trees weren't going to stand in the way. Dell had done an excellent job keeping the ship level as it had annihilated the edges of the clearing in which it now sat. Hopefully, the lumber wouldn't cause any issues upon liftoff.

Finally, with a jolt that caused everyone to stumble, the freight elevator hit ground, allowing the crew to step onto the planet's surface for the first time. Flynn fired up his omni-tool and opened an area map, syncing it with the coordinates that Qui had uploaded.

"This way," he said, pointing ahead of him. In silence, the crew followed behind him and made their way into the forest. As they walked, Flynn reached behind his head and took the assault rifle from the back of his armor, expanding it and checking the heat sink. He wanted to be ready for anything.

Next to him, Dell's talons were clenched tightly around his shotgun as his eyes swept the undergrowth. Qui, who was carrying Flynn's pistol, also looked on edge. The only one not armed was Riala. From this, Flynn gathered that her biotics were strong enough to defend herself with. Even so, as an Asari Commando, he knew that she must have been well-versed with multiple weapons.

Flynn drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to adjust his senses to the strange air. The atmosphere was thick and moist, but it was breathable. He could smell the trees, the dirt, the hints of animal droppings, and the faint traces of mechanical exhaust.

"The EAE is near," Dell said, smelling the same things on the air. "They won't like us trying to sneak in here like this. I'm sure they know we've landed. We need to get in and get out before we run into them."

Flynn raised an eyebrow. "The EAE?"

"Eldfell-Ashland Energy," Qui clarified, her voice hushed. "They have mines all over this planet. They've also got a habit of raiding prothean ruins for artifacts. Dell's right…if we run into them, it'll be trouble."

Flynn sighed. "Perfect."

The last thing he wanted was another gunfight, especially after Dell had so vehemently protested coming here because of the dangers. Another one of Dell's 'I-told-you-so' speeches would not go over well.

"I just saw something to the left!" Riala whispered urgently.

Flynn whipped his gun around to the left, feeling the charge in the air as Riala readied her biotics.

"Was it an animal?" Dell asked.

Riala nodded, her fists clenching.

"Keep moving," Flynn muttered. "Stay together. If anyone sees anything, don't keep it quiet."

At a slightly faster pace, the group shuffled through the rocky forest, keeping eyes on cave openings and dense bushes as they went. After just a few minutes, the tree cover suddenly stopped, opening to wide, muddy road that cut cleanly through the woods.

"EAE road," Dell announced, pointing a talon at the rover tracks that were still fresh in the mud. "Keep an ear out for vehicles, too."

Continuing on, the group crossed the muddy road and re-entered the forest, still keeping their weapons ready. "We're nearly there," Flynn whispered after a few more minutes of trekking. "According to my map, there should be a clearing just up ahead, and the ruins are in the center of it."

"I think I hear a vehicle," Riala suddenly hissed. "Listen!"

The crew slowed to a stop, straining their ears to try and catch what the asari was talking about. It only took a moment for Flynn to hear it, the low rumble on the thick air. It was deep and rough, and didn't sound like any rover that Flynn had ever heard. He cast a look at Dell, who shrugged his shoulders.

"What is that?" Qui asked, tightening her grip on her pistol.

Flynn shifted his feet, turning to face the direction of the road that they had just crossed. As he stared through the trees, however, something else caught his eye.

He almost didn't notice it standing there. It wasn't moving, its four legs planted firmly in the dirt, and its russet-colored skin blended in with the soil and mulch on the forest floor. It was just staring, its large, round eyes glaring at the foursome. Fangs jutted dangerously from its jaws as it continued to growl, and Flynn realized that the low rumble Riala had heard was actually coming from this animal.

"Shit," Flynn whispered, placing the stock of his rifle against his shoulder. "Varren."

His three companions spun around to face the wild animal, their weapons pointed straight at it. "On the left!" Qui'ann exclaimed, firing two shots into the bushes.

"Two more on the right! Dell cried, unleashing a shotgun blast that was followed by agonized yelping.

Varren were suddenly closing in from all angles, their clawed feet padding noisily along the ground as they charged.

"Go, go!" Flynn bellowed. "Get to the ruins!" He aimed his gun and fired at the first Varren, putting it down just as it charged forward. "MOVE!"

The crew was suddenly sprinting, hurtling fallen logs, vaulting over stones and boulders as they tore through the dense forest. Gunshots continued to ring out at random, occasionally followed by a yelp or a howl that signified a hit. How many of the creatures were chasing them was unknown, but they were rapidly gaining.

"Stay together!" Dell roared, loosing another blast from his shotgun. "Keep moving!"

From behind him, Flynn suddenly heard a loud thud as something hit the dirt hard. "Flynn!" Qui's voice was strained and panicked. "Wait!"

Sliding to a stop, Flynn turned back to see Qui'ann sprawled on the ground, having just tripped over a jagged rock in the soil.

"Fuck!" Flynn screamed, hurrying back to her. Dropping to his knee, he brought up his assault rifle and squeezed off two bursts of fire, bringing down the closest Varren. More were closing in.

"Behind you!" Qui shouted.

Flynn spun his body and fired haphazardly as the canine-like monster lunged at him. A wailing yowl escaped the beast's throat as it crashed to the dirt in front of Flynn, bleeding from several gaping holes in its skull.

Ignoring the fact that he had just come inches from death, Flynn rose to his feet and put an arm under Qui's torso to help her up.

"Come on!" Dell called to them.

As they once more began to run, two amorphous, blue shapes soared past either side of Flynn and Qui, biotic attacks that had been expertly aimed by Riala. More pained screeching was heard, and Flynn immediately knew that the asari had saved his life.

Finally together again, the crew scampered through the last of the colossal trees and burst into the clearing that Flynn had promised. They scanned the edges of the tree line, but it appeared as though the Varren had given up the chase. Perhaps they did not feel comfortable chasing prey out of the cover of the forest.

Once the group had come to a stop, Flynn felt his body shaking as the adrenaline continued to pulse through him. "Holy balls!" He panted, his chest heaving with each breath.

Dell was gently patting Riala on her narrow shoulder, both of them sucking wind as they eyed the tree line. Qui'ann was doubled over, hands on her knees, brushing off the frayed material of her suit.

"Any punctures?" Flynn asked, spitting the sticky saliva from his mouth.

Qui stood straight and shook her head. "No," she replied, her breast rising and falling rapidly. "Flynn…you…"

"Don't thank me," he said morosely. "We still have to go _back _through there when we leave for the ship."

Dell groaned loudly. "You'd better hope we have enough thermal clips," he said accusingly.

Flynn's lips pressed into a thin line as he ejected his glowing heat sink. Turning away from his turian companion, he loaded a fresh clip and took a few steps forward. "All right, let's hustle up and find those –" The words caught in his throat. His feet had ground to a halt as he stared straight ahead. His eyes widened to their limit, trying to take in the sight.

Ahead of him, a massive stone pyramid rose up from the flat ground. It was golden in color, standing out in stark contrast to the grey rock and green forest that surrounded the clearing. It must have stood fifty feet tall, towering over most of its surroundings. There were no markings on the outside of the pyramid, save for the set of stairs than ran all the way up the side of it, and the tip of the structure was jet black. In front of the ruins, a modern catwalk had been erected to allow access into the pyramid. A short ramp led up to a door, which had been roped off.

In the area around the front of the ramp, several large crates had been set up, possibly containing supplies and tools for the excavation of the ruins. Either that, or they were empty, waiting to be filled with artifacts for transportation.

"Looks like someone's already scoured this place," Dell observed, taking point as Flynn struggled to regain his composure. "Keep your eyes open."

Qui and Riala fell in behind the turian, leaving Flynn to pull up the rear. After a few more seconds of gaping at the ruins, he cast one last look back toward the tree line and then jogged to catch up to the group.

"Any way to tell if someone's inside?" He asked.

Qui shook her head. "I can't get scans of the structure from out here. Maybe once we get inside, I can try to figure that out."

Dell was the first one up the ramp, trying to door that they all knew would be locked. "Need a hack," he said flatly.

Qui'ann stepped up at once, squeezing her way past him to the door. Her omni-tool lit up as she began to bypass the door controls. As she did so, Flynn could not help but smile at her.

After just a few seconds, she stood straight and switched off her omni-tool. "Done."

Dell tried the door once again, nodding with satisfaction as it slid wide open. With the others behind him, the turian led the way into the pyramid, keeping his shotgun clutched firmly in his talons.

Flynn was last into the ruins, flinching as the door slid shut behind him. The group was now heading down a long, dimly lit tunnel into the depths of the structure. The EAE, or some science team, or whoever had been exploring these ruins, had set up a lighting system along the walls of the tunnel. Flynn felt a familiar sense of dread creeping over him. He had never been in a prothean ruin before, and he had no idea what to expect.

After what seemed like an eternity, the tunnel finally ended, opening up into a massive cavern. The walls of the cavern were undecorated stone, but the floor was covered in thousands of small white tiles. On the right side of the massive room, several large, oval shaped chambers had been put into the rock. Each of the chambers was covered by a glowing blue stasis field, which – combined with the EAE lights – illuminated the cavern just enough to see clearly.

"Does anyone know what exactly we're looking for?" Dell asked, his flanging voice sounding tiny in the oversized room.

Flynn shook his head. "There has to be some kind of central room…like…a command center, or something."

"If there is, I think it's reasonable to assume that whoever set up these lights has already found it," Riala chimed in. "I think we should just follow their work."

Dell nodded. "Good idea. Let's head to those stasis chambers and see where the cables from these lights lead."

Unable to the come up with an idea of his own, Flynn simply fell in behind the group once more, gazing around at the cavern in amazement. He was walking in the footsteps of the protheans themselves. Where his feet fell right now, an ancient alien's feet had also fallen fifty thousand years before he was born. The idea was incredible to him.

Next to the stasis chambers, the crew found a modern elevator, which they took without hesitation. It lowered them approximately thirty feet, past more stasis chambers, and opened into a much smaller room. The floor had the same white tiles, but the chamber next to the elevator was open. There was no blue stasis field covering it. Seeing it as the only way to go, the group marched through the chamber, which was completely lined with white tiles, and exited out the back of it into a large, circular shaft.

"I've seen this before," Riala said, her voice sounding awed. "This is an elevator."

Flynn looked up, seeing how high the shaft led. There was only a few stories worth of space above their heads. "Looks like we're going down," he said.

In the center of the circular platform, there was a small control consol, which Qui promptly attached herself to. It took only moments for her to activate the elevator, which hummed to life rather loudly as it quickly began to descend.

On the smooth, circular walls, Flynn could see flashes of light or darkness as the elevator zipped past rooms and chambers. Hopefully, they didn't contain any vital information. It would take ages to explore them all.

The elevator ride was short, and it eventually came to rest in another wide open area, roughly the size of the cavern at the entrance. To the left, a set of lights burned weakly against the thick darkness. As Flynn squinted toward the lights, he saw that they illuminated an expansive control console.

"This is it," he said. "This must be the central command for this station."

At a jog, the crew left the elevator platform and hustled over to the control console, which was unlike anything Flynn had ever seen before. He'd looked upon the most cobbled, garbage tech from Omega, to the state-of-the-art tech on the Citadel…but this was more advanced than any of them. Even Qui'ann struggled to find a starting point. Beside her, an open datapad lay on the edge of the console.

"What's that say?" Dell asked, jabbing a talon at the datapad.

Riala snatched up the pad and began thumbing through it, her silvery eyes scanning the readouts. "It's written by some scientist," she informed them. "Listen to this: 'Tell Dr. McKinney that the damn lift won't go down any further. We've tried all the program hacking that we can think of, but there's some kind of restriction that's been put on the lower level. We're missing the necessary prothean ciphers to break it, and I don't know where you'd ever find an OSD or datafile that contained such information.

'Also, if McKinney would ever get his fat ass out here to see for himself, he would see that this structure isn't stable enough to excavate any deeper from the outside. I don't care what's down in that chamber, I'm not sacrificing the entirety of this site – and the safety of my team - just to take a peek at the power station. We've already dug out the ground around these ruins trying to get down there, and now any kind of ordinance discharge – or even a strong enough energy pulse – could bring half this structure down'."

Flynn listened intently as she read, nodding at the words of the angered scientist. "So, there's another room underneath this one?

"Yes," Riala confirmed. "And from the look of these scans, it's enormous."

"Flynn, give me your crystal," Qui said, holding out a three-fingered hand toward him.

Obediently, Flynn loosened the belt of his armor and reached inside to fetch his crystal, which was glowing with powerful intensity. The entire group shielded their eyes from it as Qui took the crystal and set it on the console. Immediately, the powerful light dimmed, and the quarian opened her omni-tool.

"I knew it," she said excitedly. "That scientist was talking about prothean ciphers, and they needed the correct one to break the restrictions on the elevator."

Flynn nodded. "Right…and?"

"Your crystal has the cipher that we need," she replied. "It looks like there's some kind of identification code embedded in the crystal that's compatible with this prothean technology."

"So, you were right," Dell said thoughtfully. "The crystal _is _prothean."

"There's no doubt," Qui answered, sounding almost giddy. "I'm going to crack this elevator restriction right now."

"You can do that?" Riala asked skeptically.

Qui'ann let out a chuckle. "I can do anything."

Flynn squeezed her shoulder affectionately, grinning excitedly over her as she worked. In a matter of seconds, she was hacking the terminal of a hyper-advanced, extinct civilization.

"You're fucking incredible," Flynn said as she finished.

Standing up, Qui crossed her arms and dropped her left hip, giving her the appearance of a sassy teenager. "Tell me you're not _just _figuring this out."

Flynn beamed widely at her. "Nope."

Laughing, she handed him his dim crystal and made her way past him and back into the center of the large, circular elevator platform. Opening her omni-tool once again, she entered a few commands on it before doing the same thing on the elevator interface.

At once, the elevator began to slide downward again. Flynn and Riala cheered as they descended. Even Dell managed a grin, his mandibles widening as he patted Qui on the back.

After just a few moments of traveling downward, the walls of the elevator shaft suddenly fell away, and the crew was frozen in awe at the scale of the chamber they had just entered.

"Shit," Flynn breathed.

The size of this cavern put the one by the entrance to shame. There were luminescent blue lights lining the walls, which gave away the astounding true dimensions of the chamber. The _Resolution _could have parked inside twice over without scuffing the paint.

It was perfectly round, with one single metallic column in the center that ran from top to bottom. The elevator platform was entering down against the side wall, and stopped in the center, perpendicular to the column. There was a narrow, metal walkway that led from the platform to the exact center of the chamber, ending just in front of the vertical column.

"Do you see that?" Dell asked.

Flynn nodded, his mouth hanging open as he slowly stepped out onto the walkway. There, hovering in the middle of a gap in the column, was a large, perfectly spherical, platinum-colored ball. The crew spilled out onto the walkway without so much as a scan to determine its stability. It took roughly one minute to walk to the center of the colossal chamber. Once there, the foursome stopped to stare up at the flawless metal sphere, gaping at the way it perfectly reflected the room around it.

"What the hell is it?" Dell asked.

Qui shrugged. "If…I had to guess…I'd say it's some sort of power source…or a…data bank…or both?"

"Does anyone else notice the reflection?" Riala asked, sounding wholly unnerved.

Flynn studied the surface of the sphere, wondering what she meant. The walkway was visible in the reflection, as was the elevator platform, the blue lights patterns on the walls, and the column that held the sphere in stasis. The image was slightly distorted in fish-eye fashion due to its curvature, but…the reflection seemed perfectly normal…except for one thing.

"We're not there," Flynn replied, astounded. "It's reflecting everything except us!"

"What the hell?" Dell said, shaking his head at the sphere. "That's…bizarre."

Flynn stepped forward, giving into his impulses as he raised a hand to touch the metallic sphere.

"Flynn, don't!" Qui snapped, but he ignored her. Extending his hand, he gently pressed his fingertips against the surface, recoiling as it began to ripple like a puddle of water.

Flynn stepped back, his eyes wide as the sphere began emitting green, hazy glow. There was a low humming that seemed to be coming from it, as well, and it grew louder as the glow became brighter.

"What did you do!" Riala shrieked, beginning to back away.

Flynn couldn't answer, he could only stare as the sphere began to tremble. The humming grew even louder, and as it reached a fever pitch, the green light exploded out from it. An energy pulse, one strong enough to knock the entire crew off their feet, burst forth from the sphere. A mix of startled cries accompanied the pulse, as no one in the room knew what had just happened to them. Flynn felt the energy pass through his body, making his skin tingle as he struggled to haul himself off the ground.

"Damn it!" Dell growled as he stood straight. "You _had _to touch the damn thing, _didn't _you! You won't be happy until we're _all _dead, will you!"

Flynn turned toward him, his face contorted in rage. "All right, God damn it…"

"Wait!" Qui interjected, quelling the powder keg. She was standing on the edge of the walkway, looking down at a small, metallic sphere the size of a small bowling ball. "It shrank," she mused.

Flynn gave Dell one last fiery gaze before turning away and sidling up next to her. "That thing was fifteen feet tall and just as wide. How the hell did it turn into that?"

Qui'ann shrugged. "I…really don't know."

"Does anyone else feel that?" Riala's voice was filled with trepidation. Flynn turned to her, but before he could ask what she meant, he felt it. His feet were vibrating. His legs, too. Suddenly the entire room was rumbling, and clouds of ancient dust were falling like enormous ghosts from the high ceiling.

"Oh, hell…" Flynn muttered. The science team's concerns had become a reality "Everyone get back to the elevator! This place is coming down!"

Stowing his crystal back in the belt of his armor, Flynn bent down and picked up the metal bowling ball, marveling at how light it actually was as he took off at a run toward the elevator. The rest of the crew was only few steps ahead of him as the walkway began to collapse, chasing them toward the platform.

"Start this thing!" Dell screamed as they all made their way onto it. Qui didn't need to be told twice. She flitted to the control panel and started the lift within mere seconds.

The noise was deafening. Metal crashing, stone giving way and crumbing in heaps upon the floors, the entire lower part of the ruins sounded like it was collapsing. It was the pyramid's swansong, and it was wholly terrifying.

The elevator was shaking now, vibrating violently as it rattled its way up past the central command console. Small chunks of stone debris were shaking loose from the walls of the shaft, and they crashed loudly as they pelted the rising platform.

"Watch your heads!" Flynn shouted, trying to be heard over the cacophony of destruction. More chunks of debris rained down on the crew, drawing screams from the girls, curses from the men, and driving all of them toward the center and away from the walls.

Mercifully, the lift finally came to a stop where they had originally taken it from. In a panic, the four crew members ducked through the open stasis pod at a sprint and rode the modern elevator up to the entrance cavern, all praying that the pyramid didn't turn to rubble with them inside.

They were almost to safety. The foursome tore across the white-tiled floor of the cavern, heading straight for the tunnel to the surface. The floor was shaking violently, making it difficult to build up speed. Footfalls were unsteady, chucks of stone and tile threatened to twist ankles.

All at once, the floor began to tilt, and the crew found themselves running uphill toward the exit. The entire structure was collapsing from the inside, and a gaping maw of blackness had opened in the center of the floor.

"GO, GOD DAMN IT!" Flynn screamed, hearing stone crack like thunder behind him.

A massive section of the ancient wall opposite of the crew suddenly gave way, crashing to the unstable floor and launching a thick plume of dust and dirt to wash over the crew. The lights on the wall began shorting out as their support structure continued to give way. Combined with the suffocating dust cloud, visibility had gone to hell.

Without seeing where he was going, Flynn ran straight into a stone wall at full tilt, bouncing his forehead off of its surface. Suddenly on the verge of unconsciousness, he dropped to the ground, blinking away the darkness that pressed in upon his vision. In front of him, his bowling ball artifact hit the tile floor and began to roll away.

"Flynn!" Qui'ann called. Her voice sounded very far away.

Somewhere in the cloud, Riala was calling for Dell, someone else was shouting, too…but Flynn ignored them all. He crawled frantically across the dirty tile floor, chasing the prothean sphere as the ceiling fell to pieces above him. Just as his senses were returning to him, he caught up to it and scooped it once more into his arms.

"Dell!" He called, trying to find the wall that he had run into. "Qui, where are you!" Sunlight from the ceiling holes began filtering in, piercing the shroud of dust and illumination his crewmates. Stumbling over the large chunks of debris that dropped from above, Flynn made his way towards them, struggling against the tilt of the floor.

"Come on!" Dell stumbled to Flynn's side, helping him toward the tunnel exit. Together, the foursome made it into the tunnel and began the grueling run up toward the surface. Behind them, the thundering collapse only grew louder as larger portions of the building began to give way.

Thankfully, the ascent seemed to take no time at all. As one, the group burst out of the tunnel and stopped on the constructed ramp, struggling to breathe and cough dust out of their lungs. Flynn doubled over, placing his free hand on his knee and retching loudly over the railing of the ramp. He felt a hand patting the back of his armor, and turned slightly to see Qui'ann looking over him with concern. Her visor and suit had kept her safe from the dust.

"Thanks," he choked out.

"Don't run off like that," she said, her eyes betraying a hint of a smile behind her mask.

Dell, who was brushing dirt off his head spikes, also turned to Flynn. "Tell me you still have that ball."

"I got it," Flynn said. He turned around to face Dell, holding the sphere tucked under his arm. Before he could say anything else, his eyes fell upon the squad of men that had massed in front of the ramp. Several of them had taken cover behind the science team's crates, and stood at the foot of the ramp, staring up at the four people that had emerged from the collapsing ruin. There were at least a dozen strange men that had been waiting for them…and all of them were armed.

One of the men, a tall, strong, dirt-and-sweat stained roughneck stepped forward, a pistol resting in his hand. "You wrecked our pyramid," he called up to the crew.

"Miners," Dell muttered. "From the EAE."

The ringleader of the miners tightened his grip on his pistol. "How 'bout you hand over that metal ball you got there."

Flynn and Dell exchanged a glance and a sigh.

This wasn't going to go well.

**A/N – Only Flynn and co. could bring down a structure that's been standing for fifty thousand years…**

**Sorry that this update took so long. I just got a new job and I've been working like crazy. Combined with school, it gives me little free time. **

**BUT! It had some god action, and finally we got to hear how Flynn came about the crystal. **

**Hopefully, it was worth the wait…you know…for the three or four people that have been reading this =)**

**I hope you enjoy it. I also hope the next update won't take quite so long.**


	5. Chapter 5

There were a dozen of them that Flynn could see. His mind began racing, mentally attacking the problem, and he knew that Dell's was doing the same thing.

Yes, there were indeed a dozen armed men facing off with the four young crew members. They also had reinforced crates to take cover behind, and they were spread out, which gave them multiple angles to attack from. On the bright side, none of them were wearing armor, which meant that they also – most likely – had no kinetic barriers to speak of.

Flynn's analysis of the situation finally came to one crucial point: Biotics. Odds were that none of these miners had the abilities, which would undoubtedly be the deciding factor. Flynn stole one more glance at Dell, and he knew that the turian had come to the same conclusion.

"I know you heard me," the filthy roughneck said, leveling his pistol at the crew. "Let's have whatever it is you found in there."

Dell's right talon slowly inched toward the shotgun on the small of his back. "Riala," he muttered.

"Why don't we all just call it a day before someone gets hurt," Flynn called down to them, drawing their attention to him. "This doesn't have to get ugly."

The lead miner began to laugh, drawing a collective guffaw from his coworkers. "You don't get it, son," he said, taking a confident step forward. "We know you're the ones that landed just southeast of here. We've been fighting the eggheads over this pyramid for weeks. Now, you gone and wrecked it…and you're gonna make it worth our trouble. So…hand over that prothean thing."

"Qui," Flynn whispered, trying not to move his lips. "Have you been practicing?"

"Yes," she breathed back. At once, Flynn felt his skin break out in goose bumps underneath his armor. The air was fully charged with biotic energy.

"Forget it," the roughneck barked. "It's easier to strip stuff off dead bodies." He brought his other hand to his pistol to steady his aim, and Flynn dropped into a crouch as Dell made the exact same move.

"NOW!" they both roared.

At once, the tension was split with an electrical-type charge. Two blue energy waves warped the air around them as they hurtled toward the group of miners. The roughnecks hadn't seen it coming at all. Riala had unleashed a shockwave with the force of a bullet train, tossing aside men and crates alike as it cut a mighty swath through their ranks. Qui'ann had let loose a powerful throw field, which sent several more men tumbling through the air in slow motion, their bodies glowing bright blue.

"Move!" Dell shouted.

Flynn reached up with his free hand and unfolded his assault rifle before tossing it to Qui. In one swift move, she caught the rifle and tossed his pistol back to him, enabling him to fight while carrying the prothean artifact under his left arm.

Together, the four crewmates sprinted down the ramp. A single shotgun blast from Dell leveled the only two men that were still standing. The rest were writhing on the ground, recovering from the attacks they had received. Even if they had anticipated a biotic attack from an asari, surely none of them were expecting it from a quarian.

As he ran for the forest, Flynn aimed his pistol and squeezed off three rounds, two of which hit one of the miners as he struggled to get up. Qui'ann also loosed a burst of rounds from her AR, trying to suppress the enemy and buy the crew time to escape.

The four of them reached the tree line in no time and began hurtling through the dense forest, all of their senses alive with adrenaline. There were shouts from behind them as the miners began to collect themselves and give chase. Flynn chanced a look over his shoulder and saw five silhouettes lumbering behind them. With luck, that was all that was left of the EAE group.

"Varren!" Dell shouted, firing to his left and putting down one of the charging beasts.

Flynn immediately swung to the right, knowing that varren attack in packs. Sure enough, he spotted two of the creatures tearing through the underbrush toward him. Raising his pistol, he fired four shots, catching the first varren in the leg and ribs and causing it to collapse face-first into the dirt. The second was too fast, though. Before he could even draw down on it, Dell's shotgun blast split open its gnarled skull and dropped it in its tracks.

As the crew bounded back across the muddy EAE road, Flynn noticed Qui'ann stumble as her kinetic barriers took a direct hit from a concussive shot. Sliding to a stop, he bent down and scooped her under the arm, helping her back to her feet. As he did so, he glanced behind him once more, seeing that all five pursuers were still there. Spinning on his heel, he raised his pistol and fired three shots while striding backward, watching with satisfaction as one of the figures dropped to the ground.

Bullets began hissing past him as he turned back to catch up to his crewmates. "Keep going!" He screamed at their backs.

In front of him, Riala suddenly stopped dead and spun around, her eyes blazing with rage. As she arched her back and stood tall, Flynn saw her hands glowing like newborn suns, charged to the brim with biotic energy. As soon as he and Qui'ann blew past her, Flynn turned to watch her unleash a power wave the likes of which he'd never seen.

Trees, rocks, and men were all leveled to the ground as the deafening wave crashed through the forest, leaving a wide, steaming zone of emptiness in its wake. It looked as if an entire strip of the forest had suddenly been surgically removed. Staring in awe, Flynn could say nothing as Riala confidently turned and jogged past him. From beneath the carnage, however, Flynn could make out two figures that had somehow survived the asari's onslaught. Ejecting his heat sink, he loaded his last one and fell back into stride with his crew, focusing on getting back to the _Resolution. _

Growling suddenly came from his left, but Dell put down the varren before it could come within a dozen yards of the group. More enemy bullets cracked into the trees around Flynn's head, igniting his anger.

"Motherfucker!" He exclaimed as he felt shards of tree bark shave against his bare cheek. These last two miners were damn determined…but it was going to cost them their lives.

Dropping to his knee, Flynn slid across the dirt and leaves to take cover behind a large gray rock that jutted up from the ground. Setting down the prothean sphere and readying his pistol, he took his time aiming, taking out the first target with just two well-placed shots. Startled, the second man quickly ducked behind the thick trunk of a nearby tree, firing an SMG blindly from behind it. Flynn easily ducked the wild rounds and raised up once again, carefully placing his reticle on the only part of the man he could see: his foot.

One shot was all it took, the man's screams were loud and raw as he dropped to his knees and fell out of his cover. Flynn rose from behind his rock, his concentration focused like a laser, and fired several more shots, silencing the screams. Before he could turn to rejoin his crew, however, he was suddenly hit hard from behind, the force of which knocked him square on his face.

Ferocious growling tore across his ears, and in that split second, Flynn knew that he'd been pounced by a varren. "Dell!" He screamed in panic.

The varren on his back was heavy, and he could feel saliva dripping onto his neck as the beast gnawed at the collar of his armor. Gritting his teeth and using his terror as fuel, Flynn put his arms underneath him and pushed up, rolling onto his back and dislodging the varren from his collar. Rolling back over, he scrambled for his pistol, which had been knocked out of his hand on the initial impact, but only made it to his knees before the varren was on him again. This time, the animal threw its beefy shoulder into Flynn, knocking him on his back before it made a lunge for his exposed head.

Acting on pure instinct, Flynn was able to seize the varren's ugly head between his hands, stopping its long fangs just inches away from his face. The creature continued to growl furiously, snapping its glistening jaws as it tried to free its head from Flynn's grasp.

Flynn gritted his teeth, using all of his power to hold the beast at bay, but he was losing strength fast. "Dell!" He called again.

Then, just before his burning muscles finally gave out, the varren's bulbous eyes went wide as it was hoisted effortlessly into the air. A blue haze encircled its body a\s it flailed fruitlessly in the air. After just a few seconds, the varren let out a sharp cry as it was suddenly bent in half, its spine making a loud _crack! _as it shattered into pieces. The corpse was then hurled several yards back where it smashed hard against a tree and dropped to the dirt.

Panting and sweating, Flynn whipped his head to the right, watching as Qui trotted over to him and extended her tri-fingered hand. Still feeling his heart hammering against his ribs, Flynn grasper her hand and let her pull him up, feeling her fingers lingering amongst his for a few extra moments.

"Thanks," Flynn gasped, picking up his pistol and sphere from the ground.

"I have a thing for damsels in distress," Qui retorted.

Rolling his eyes, Flynn picked up his jogging pace and headed off after Dell and Riala, who had stopped ahead to scan the brush for more varren. Together, the four of them hustled their way back to the _Resolution_, keeping their eyes on the trees as they loaded back on to the cargo elevator of their ship. Once aboard, Dell bounded up the stairs and made straight for the cockpit, firing up the thrusters and mass drive before he had even strapped himself in. Qui'ann slid into the co-pilot's chair and began dictating the readouts that scrolled across the screens in front of her. By the time Flynn flopped down on his thin bed, the ship was already lifting off.

Riala was nowhere to be seen. She was likely holed up in her passenger cabin, but Flynn didn't feel at all like looking for her. He sat silently on the edge of his mattress, prothean sphere under his left arm, pistol still clutched tightly in his right hand. Despite the fact that his armor was supposed to regulate his temperature, he still felt ice cold and numb. His legs and hands were shaking. He suddenly felt like a child that had gotten into trouble and was dreading punishment. His body wanted to do something, but his mind was blank.

After several minutes, the turbulence that had been jostling the ship about ended, and the ride became substantially smoother. Flynn knew that they had broken free of Gei Hinnom's atmosphere and were once again free in space. It would only be a matter of time before they hit FTL speeds.

Finally standing up, Flynn forced himself to relinquish the grip on his pistol and dropped it on his bed. He held the sphere out in front of him, still marveling at the way its pristine surface reflected everything around the room except for him. It was quite odd. Looking into the reflection, he could see behind him without obstruction, like having eyes in the back of his skull.

Lowering the sphere, Flynn suddenly had an idea. Riala was a powerful biotic, and he knew they had psychic abilities. He'd been on the receiving end of such a thing once before, and it had not ended well…but perhaps there was a way she could she could glean some sort of information or secret from the artifact. Without taking the time to shed his armor, Flynn stepped out onto the gangway and made for the lounge, passing by Vance's still-closed door and stopping just outside of Riala's. He had raised his fist to knock when he heard a voice coming from the inside.

"-Never doing anything like this again!" Riala was saying. "I'm a soldier! I'm not an operative!"

Flynn's eyebrows furrowed and he leaned closer to the closed door, trying to hear more.

"Say what you want, I don't care," Riala continued. "I can give you something even better."

Flynn grimaced. Who was she talking to? Herself? There was no terminal in her cabin, so it couldn't have been a call. Curious to hear more, he took another step closer, wincing as his shoulder pad knocked loudly against the door jamb.

Before he could compose himself, the door slid open and Riala stepped out, her eyes wide and her brow creased in what looked like anger.

Clearing his throat, Flynn stood straight and looked down at her, his jaw shifting back and forth. "Who were you talking to?"

Riala's hardened expression faltered slightly. "I was praying," she answered quickly. "Why were you spying on me?"

"I wasn't!" Flynn replied, suddenly on the defensive. "I came by to ask you a favor, for Chrissake."

Riala sighed and scratched her head tentacles, regaining her friendly disposition with a few blinks of her silvery eyes. "A favor? What is it?"

Flynn held out the sphere. "I know asari have telepathic abilities. I just needed to know if you can…sense…anything from this."

Forcing a smile, Riala nodded in response. "Um…sure. Can I see it?" She held out her hands and Flynn gently placed the sphere in them.

"Wow, it's really light," she said, looking up at him with a sudden sparkle in her eye. Looking intently at the sphere, she drew a breath and slowly let it out. "Okay…" she breathed.

Flynn took a step back and watched silently as her hands began emitting a blue-ish glow. Tilting her head back, Riala closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "I can see…stars."

"Stars?" Flynn repeated. "Anything else?"

Riala clenched her jaw and took a loud breath through her nose. "Mass relays," she whispered.

Flynn's eyebrow raised. "What about them?"

Dropping her hands, Riala deflated, her breath whooshing out of her as her biotic haze faded away. "I'm sorry," she said genuinely. "There's information contained within this, but…I can't see it."

Flynn nodded and held out his hands for the sphere. "It's okay," he said as he took it from her. "I just thought we could give it a shot. Anyway, try and get some sleep."

As he turned to leave her, Riala's airy voice called out. "Flynn?"

Turning around once more, Flynn looked over at her. "Yeah?"

She returned his gaze for a few seconds but then blinked and lowered her eyes to the floor of the lounge. Her purple lips pursed nervously, but she still said nothing.

"Hey," Flynn said softly, drawing her gaze back to his. "You were great out there. We wouldn't have made it out if not for you."

Riala shifted her weight and gave a small smile, but his words seemed to do little to comfort her. "Thanks," she said quietly. "I'll…see you later."

Giving her a nod, Flynn turned and made his way back toward his cabin. There would be time to discuss the sphere later with everyone. For now, he wanted to sleep and forget about the absurdity he had just lived through.

Several hours later, Flynn awoke to the sound of gunfire.

As he sat upright and whipped his head back and forth, searching for a weapon, he realized that he had simply been dreaming. The _Resolution _was running smoothly at FTL speeds, and the only sounds were the drive core and the small creaks from the hull. Waiting for his heart rate to slow down, Flynn's hand patted the bed next to him until it came to rest on the smooth, metallic surface of the prothean sphere that he had fallen asleep with.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Flynn drew his blanket over the artifact and stood up, poking his head out of his cabin and casting a quick glance at the cockpit. Both pilot seats were empty. The sight would have been disconcerting in most circumstances, but at FTL, the ship needed very little guidance while in transit.

Rubbing his eyes with his knuckles, Flynn drew a deep breath through his nose and let out a groan as he shuffled past Dell's empty cabin and made his way toward the galley, still wearing his armor. It would be no use to change out of it. They were probably not far from Volkov by now.

As he stepped into the galley, Flynn fully expected to see at least one of his crewmates. To the contrary, the lounge table was deserted. Riala's cabin door was closed, as was Qui's.

Licking his lips, Flynn sighed. "VIC."

"Yes."

"Is there anyone down in the hold?"

"Negative," VIC replied immediately. "The cargo hold contains no personnel."

Flynn sighed again. "Thanks."

Making his way to Qui's door, Flynn raised his fist and rapped his knuckles lightly against the metal surface. He heard movement inside, and after a few seconds, the door slid open, revealing a woozy quarian.

"What's wrong?" Qui asked, shaking her head to clear the drowsiness.

Flynn smiled at her. "Nothing's wrong," he admitted. "Just…wanna talk."

Qui's eyes blinked behind her visor. "Oh. You want to come in?" She asked, gesturing to her cramped cabin interior.

"Um…" Flynn cast a look at the spacious lounge table. "Sure. Sure, yeah."

Groggily, Qui'ann stepped to the side to allow Flynn to enter. "Why are you wearing your armor? We won't be at Volkov for another two hours."

Flynn rolled his eyes and smiled as she closed the door behind him. "Is that your way of telling me to get naked?"

Qui gave him a half-hearted shove and sank down onto her thin mattress pad, resting her head in the crook of her right arm. "Don't make me shoot you."

Flynn chuckled. "Like you'd need to. You've been working out your biotic muscles!"

"Yep," she replied, sounding almost proud. "Not that it's been easy, mind you. I can't get the implants. I have to improvise. And on the Flotilla, eezo that isn't used for ship repairs is considered wasted."

"Well, you were good enough to save my ass," Flynn said reassuringly.

She laughed softly. "When I left the fleet, I knew I'd end up having to save you from something. Trouble always…follows you around, Flynn Mcintyre." She held up a finger and traced a figure eight in the air. Flynn smiled. She was always cute when she was sleepy.

Flynn reached up and gently took her hand. "Then I'm glad I have you to watch my back."

Qui stared down at her hand in his for a few long moments, breathing slowly and deeply. "Why do humans have five fingers?" she asked, her voice thick with drowsiness.

Flynn could only smile at her.

"Everyone else has three fingers," She went on, gently tapping the ends of each of his fingertips. "Krogan, quarians, turians, salarians…even the geth…three fingers. Humans are the odd balls. Oh, and the asari, too."

Flynn shrugged, still smiling. "I'm not sure. I wasn't in charge of our evolutionary process," he quipped. "If I was, I woulda definitely proposed the three-finger idea."

Qui gave a miniscule nod. "Good."

She had stopped tapping his fingertips. Instead, she had simply let her hand come to rest within his. "I like your five fingers," she whispered.

Flynn chuckled. "Do you?"

"Mmhmm," she sighed. "You can…grip…more things…at once."

"True," Flynn said with a grin. "And it's good for delicate work."

"Mmm…"

Flynn waited for a long minute, watching her with a bemused expression as she slowly fell back to sleep. Their conversation hadn't exactly been as long as he'd hoped, but he enjoyed watching her sleep. She looked so vulnerable…so innocent and sweet. He debated on climbing into her small cot and holding her close, but there just wasn't enough space. It would have been uncomfortable for both of them. He waited until she was deeply asleep before leaving her cabin. With a sigh, he began unfastening his armor as he made his way back to his own bunk. Maybe he could get a little more sleep before picking up Sal's shipment.

"Copy that, _Resolution, _V.C. has you on final approach. You are cleared for dock at bay three."

Flynn's eyes fluttered open as the strange voice drifted into his cabin from the cockpit. As he rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up, Flynn wondered why the radio chatter was coming over the speaker system. Dell always patched it straight to his earpiece. Groaning quietly, Flynn stood up and turned to cover up his artifact when his eyes went wide.

"Shit," he muttered, unable to squash the panic that was suddenly beginning to rise within him as he stared down at his empty bunk. His prothean sphere was gone.

Still wearing his armor, he ducked out of his cabin and stomped toward the cockpit, his boots grinding to a halt as he stepped in.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked, his panic rising further.

From the pilot's seat, Riala turned around to face him, her silvery eyes wide with what seemed to be worry. She seemed just as surprised to him as he was to see her. Out the viewport, the Volkov space station skirted by as the _Resolution's _automated guidance drew it toward the docking cradle.

The confusion was driving Flynn's heartbeat, which increased his panic even further. "Tell me what the fuck is going on!" Flynn shouted, making Riala jump. "Where is Dell!"

Riala turned back toward him once more, swallowing hard. "He's…in the lounge! He said he wants to talk to you right now!"

Flynn's face crunched up in perplexity. "What, the…?" Immediately, Flynn spun on his heels and marched back up the gangway, past the escape pods, past the cabins, and stormed into the galley.

"Dell, did you tell her that she could –?" Once again, Flynn was stopped short, his eyebrows pulling together as he spotted Dell and Qui'ann.

They were together, frozen, suspended in mid-air and contained within a glowing mass effect field. Their eyes stared silently back at him. Flynn had seen this before. "Stasis," he whispered to himself, his gaze locked on the hovering, motionless bodies of his friends. There was only one person who could have done this.

"I'm sorry, Flynn."

Before he could begin to turn around, Flynn felt his entire body lock up like a burned out mech. His muscles, his joints, even his vocal cords were paralyzed as he felt his boots leave the floor. His skin tingled as if it were covered in thousands of tiny insects. His armor emitted a bluish glow as his body moved toward Dell and Qui, inside the stasis field. Slowly, Riala spun him around to face her.

"I mean it," she said softly, staggering a few steps as the _Resolution's _airlock sealed against the mining station's docking cradle. "I really am sorry for this."

Flynn, along with Dell and Qui'ann, could only stare back at her, their eyes unable to blink.

The airlock gave a loud hiss from behind the cockpit, and Riala cast a nervous glance behind her. "They have too much leverage on me," she murmured quietly. "I had no choice but to help them."

Suddenly, the gangway was filled with bodies. A squad of heavily armored men began making their way onto the ship and towards the galley, all of them carrying large assault rifles.

"I'm so sorry, Dellin," Riala whispered, her silver eyes full of despair as she cast them toward Qui'ann. "I didn't tell them you were biotic."

"Well, well!" A man jeered as he swaggered confidently into the galley. He was a tall, hulking man with dirt and sweat staining his pale skin and hair. His twisted smile was missing several teeth, and his filthy leather trench coat was filthy and tattered. "Lookie what we got here!" He belted out. "A human, a barefaced turian, and a little bitch quarian…all flying around on an ancient tin-can. This really is a freak show," he said in a thick Russian accent, casting a smarmy look at Riala, who shut her eyes against his tone.

Flynn looked toward the unfamiliar man. Who was this? And how did he know Riala? She hadn't told them Qui was a biotic…why? When had she even spoken to these men? Who the hell were they?

The last question was the only one he could receive an answer to. From the narrow gangway, one of the armed soldiers stepped up beside the giant Russian. If Flynn's eyes could have, they would have been as wide as dinner plates. The soldier's armor was unmistakable. Flynn knew Dell would also recognize the white and yellow color scheme…and that logo...the same logo embroidered on the shirt stuffed in the locker of Flynn's cabin.

Cerberus.

Flynn could only stare blankly at them, feeling the knife blade sinking deep into his back, the handle covered in Riala's fingerprints.

"Make this quick, Popovich," the Cerberus soldier said. "The sooner The Illusive Man gets that crystal, the sooner you get paid."

Another ice cold shock jolted through Flynn's paralyzed body. They knew about his crystal. Riala had told them everything.

"It's in his belt," Riala said monotonously, her eyes fixed on the floor.

Popovich let out an arrogant chuckle. "Excellent work, Riala," he said, running a calloused hand across her narrow shoulder. As she quivered under his touch, he laughed, turning back to the Cerberus soldiers. "Secure the ship and lock it down. Take these freaks onto the station. There are secure rooms where we can conduct interrogations."

Flynn stared down at the Cerberus troops as they stomped their way toward he and his friends. He could say nothing. He could do nothing. He couldn't raise a hand to defend himself as the butt of an assault rifle smashed into his brow and sent him whirling towards blackness.

**A/N - Oooooh, the plot thickens! **

** A betrayal in the group…who saw it coming? Anyone? **

** How are Flynn and Co. gonna get out of THIS one?**

**I'm very sorry about the long delay. I've still been working and going to school, which takes up most of my time. And…of course…there's been Mass Effect 3 **

**:P**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you so much for reading. Let me know what you think :)**


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